|
| Senior co-captain Joe Cooke netted 25 points on 8-10 shooting Monday night. |
Cooke scored 25 points for the second straight game on Monday night and converted 80-percent (8-10) of his field goal attempts. He knocked down five of the seven three-pointers he took and was also 4-6 from the free-throw line. He rounded out a strong all-around game with four rebounds, an assist, a block and a pair of steals.
The Dolphins never trailed in the contest and held a 43-31 edge at the half against the Bears. Mount Saint Vincent shot 44.4-percent from the field in the first period and finished the first half 6-18 from behind the arc. Cooke with 15 and Nick DiMaggio (Croton, NY) with 11 finished the half in double-figures, while Eric Lastres (Bayside, NY) posted five points and six boards.
After jumping out to a 49-33 advantage with 17:37 left in regulation on a Randy Battle (Bronx, NY) lay-up, the Dolphins allowed St. Joseph’s to close to within three points on a three-pointer from Ervin Maddox with 9:48 remaining.
The Dolphins rebounded and pushed the lead up to a game-high 18 points on a pair of free-throws from DiMaggio with 4:02 left in the contest. The Bears had one final run in them that saw them slice the lead to six points with 1:01 left. The Dolphins converted four free-throws around a lay-up from St. Joseph’s Roy Wickstrom to secure the nine point win.
For the game, Mount Saint Vincent shot 43.1-percent from the floor and 32.0-percent from three-point range. The Mount was out-rebounded in the game 51-43, including 13-7 on the offensive glass. The Dolphin defense did force 19 turnovers and it converted those into 23 points.
DiMaggio finished the night with 18 points and four rebounds to go along with two assists and two steals. Lastres finished the game with a career-high 11 rebounds in the contest, while Keiran Halton (Manasquan, NJ) reached a new career mark with 13 points. Randy Battle (Bronx, NY) continued his strong start to the season with 16 points and four rebounds. He remains the only Mount Saint Vincent player to reach double-figures in each of the team’s four games.
St. Joseph’s placed four players in double-figures on the night with Maddox posting 23 points to lead the Bears. Justin Gist also had a strong effort with 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Wickstrom posted the game’s lone double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The win, Mount Saint Vincent’s second straight, moves the team to 2-2 overall on the season. The Dolphins will be back in action again on December 2 when they open Skyline Conference play at Bard. Tip-Off with the Raptors is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
