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| Freshman George Naldjieff scored a career-high 12 points on Thursday. |
The Dolphins jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead in the contest on the strength of five points from junior Dino Johnson (Amsterdam, N.Y.). The Blue Knights responded with a 7-0 spurt of their own to knot the score 5:40 into the contest, before Mount Saint Mary took the lead for good in the half with 11:31 left in the period on a triple from Chris Kingly.
The lead would grow to as many as 10 points late in the half, before the Dolphins sliced the lead to six at 40-34 on the strength of four Nick DiMaggio (Croton, N.Y.) free throws in the final minute.
Mount Saint Vincent shot an even 40-percent from the floor in the first with Johnson and Naldjieff each scoring eight points. The Dolphins only converted three field goals from long range in the half, while the Blue Knights nailed five of their 11. Carlos Valdez and Lenny Ragaglia led all scores with 10 points at the break.
The Blue Knights would extended their lead back to nine points just under two minutes into the second stanza, but the Dolphins fired back with a 12-2 run with eight of those points coming from freshman Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Pat Panetta (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) gave the Mount its final lead of the game with a layup to push the Dolphins in front 48-47 with 13:27 left to play in regulation.
Mount Saint Mary would regain the lead for good in the game with 12:39 left on a Matt Weinberger bucket and would push the lead back to double digits at 60-50 on a Chuck Magos three pointer with 3:45 left. The visiting Dolphins cut the deficit to just two points late with an 8-0 run capped by a Johnson three, but would get no closer. The Blue Knights scored the final six points of the tilt to earn the final 66-58 decision.
Neither team was effective from the field as both shot under 40-percent on the night. The difference was two more made three pointers by the Blue Knights and four more made free throws. The Dolphins went just 5-27 from behind the arc and just 9-12 from the free throw line.
Naldjieff finished the night 5-8 from the floor and also grabbed six rebounds and blocked two shoots to go along with his team-high 12 points. Johnson netted 11 points for the Mount and handed out a game and season-high seven assists. Cunningham continued his strong early season play with a career-best 10 points and Panetta paced the squad with nine boards.
Valdez led the Blue Knights with game-highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds and Ragaglia posted 13 tallies and four boards. Weinberger and Valdez each handed out a team-high five assists in the game.
The loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 2-1 overall and to 1-1 against league opponents. The Dolphins will play two straight non-conference games coming up, traveling to New York University on December 5 and then hosting Staten Island on December 7. Game time on Saturday at NYU is at 2:00 p.m. and the Staten Island contest will tip at 7:00 p.m.
Post Game Notes: Thursday was the third straight game to open the season a freshmen led Mount Saint Vincent in scoring…It marked the second straight game that the Dolphins started three freshmen…It was the 88th straight game the Dolphins converted a three-pointer…Naldjieff appeared in his first career game.
