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| Seniors Brian Chambers (left) and Derek Charlton (center) were honored at halftime on Thursday. |
The first half was a back-and-forth affair that featured 11 ties and 11 lead changes. The largest lead of the half was a six point advantage by St. Joseph’s that came with 48 seconds left in the half. Mount Saint Vincent freshman Patrick Panetta (Ridgefield Park, NJ/Ridgefield Park) trimmed the deficit to four points when he converted a lay-up at the horn, sending the Mount to the break down by a score of 57-53.
St. Joseph’s shot a blistering .605 from the floor in the first period, while the Dolphins were right there shooting .595 overall. The Golden Eagled knocked down six threes in the period and the Dolphins hit five. Only 13 personal fouls were called in the period and as a result only 11 free-throws were attempted. The Eagles were a perfect 5-5 and the Mount converted 4-6 from the charity stripe.
Widgeon came off the bench to lead the Mount with 13 points in the frame, while junior Joe Cooke (Mount Vernon, NY/Fordham Prep) finished the half with 10. The Dolphins held a 20-11 edge on the glass and a 13-8 advantage in second chance opportunities.
The second half opened with St. Joseph’s wheeling off seven straight points, capped by a triple from Matt Weekes to put the Eagles out front 64-53. They would jump out to a lead as large as 13 points, at 75-62, with 15:28 left on a lay-up from Chris Niblock.
The Dolphins would storm back and moved to within a single point, trailing 80-79, with 9:44 left in the second when freshman Kyle Byrons (Goshen, NY/Burke Catholic) buried a jumper. The Golden Eagles would not give up the lead, however, until the Dolphins pulled ahead 93-92 with 5:38 left when Johnson converted a three-point play.
Mount Saint Vincent would jump ahead 97-92 with just under 4:30 left in the contest on a jumper by Cooke, before the Eagles would catch the Dolphins and tie the score at 101-101 two minutes later. With 2:08 left the Eagles pulled back in front, this time for good, when Phil Lipari converted a lay-up to give St. Joseph’s a two point edge. The Mount would get back to within one point with five seconds left, but the Eagles nailed four free-throws to escape with the win.
For the game, Mount Saint Vincent shot .557 (39-70) from the field and .444 (8-18) from long range. The Golden Eagles were also red-hot in the contest, shooting .518 (43-83) and .400 (8-20) from three-point land. The Dolphins committed 22 turnovers in the game, leading to 25 points for St. Joseph’s.
Joining Widgeon and Johnson in double-figures were senior captain Derek Charlton (Yonkers, NY/St. Raymond’s) with 17 points and Cooke with 16. Charlton and Johnson led the team with eight rebounds each, while Charlton, Cooke and Kevin Garlan (Jackson Heights, NY/Archbishop Molloy) each handed out four assists.
St. Joseph’s finished with four players in double-figures, led by Brandon Freeman who finished with 28 points on 12-17 shooting and 13 rebounds.
At halftime of the contest, the two members of this year’s senior class were recognized. Brian Chambers (Maspeth, NY/Cathedral Prep) and Charlton were honored for their dedication to the program over the past four years. Chambers made his first start of the season on Thursday and recorded a pair of rebounds for the Dolphins.
The loss moves the Mount to 8-14 overall on the season and to 5-10 in league play. The Dolphins will hit the road on Saturday when they travel to Polytechnic for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off.
