1/6/2007 - (Schenectady, NY) - When Mount Saint Vincent Head Men's Basketball Coach Michael Murphy looks back at this weekend's Sig Makofski Tournament at Union College, he may only see two more losses in a nine-game losing streak that has dropped a very young Mount team to 1-10 for the 2006-07 season. Then again, with all of the positives that were produced despite an 0-2 stretch this weekend - including a 91-78 loss to Elms College in the consolation game on Saturday - he may look at this weekend as the beginning of the end of the rebuilding process he inherited a a year and a half ago. During consecutive games against solid teams from Union College and Elms, the Mount hustled, battled, and at times shot the ball like a veteran team, when in fact a majority of the Mount's production came from freshmen. The results from the games may have been disappointing for the Dolphins, but the message that the young Mount team is ready to play no matter how strong the competition could be what the Mount brings back to Riverdale as Skyline Conference play commences this week.

On Saturday, junior Derek Charlton (Yonkers, NY/St. Raymonds) followed up a banner night on Saturday when he scored a career-high 26 points with a 20-point, 12-rebound double-double and was named to the All-Tournament team, and freshmen Lester Owens (Manalapan, NJ/St. Joseph's-Metuchen) and Kevin Garlan (Jackson Heights, NY/Archbishop Molloy) had monster games, but the Dolphins were unable to overcome a deep and efficient Elms team. The Blazers featured five players scoring in double figures and outrebounded the Dolphins 40-34, and they also overcame an incredible start to the game by Mount Saint Vincent as the Dolphins shot an incredible 63% from the floor but trailed 47-39 after 20 minutes as a late rally by Elms allowed them to pull away during an otherwise tight game. The second half saw some sloppy play, but Elms ultimately kept the game out of reach by hitting 11 three-pointers, while the Mount converted only four of theit 13 three-point attempts.

But the play of Garlan and Owens was the story of the game as Garlan scored 18 points on 8 for 11 shooting and added four rebounds and five assists, while Owens scored a career-high 14 points on 6 for 10 shooting. Owens scored 22 of his 37 points for the 2006-07 season during the last two games. Charlton was terrific once again, and is now leading the Mount in both scoring (17.6 points per game) and rebounding (7.9 rebounds per game) this season.

Mount Saint Vincent now enters a crucial stretch where their next 10 games and 13 of their final 14 games will be against Skyline Conference competition. The stretch begins on Wednesday night when the Dolphins host Mount Saint Mary at 7:00 p.m.