St. Thomas Aquinas Holds Off Mercy College Men’s Basketball 68-56
NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Result
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
St. Thomas Aquinas Holds Off Mercy College Men's Basketball
68-56
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Ed Wilson |
DOBBS FERRY, NY - The Mercy College men's basketball team outscored visiting St. Thomas Aquinas College 36-31 in the second half, but it wasn't enough as the Mavericks fell 68-56 in East Coast Conference (ECC) play on Wednesday.
Sophomore guard Ed Wilson (Bronx, NY) paced Mercy College (0-13, 0-4 ECC) with 13 points and six rebounds. Seniors Michael Marin (Flushing, NY) and Justin McMullen (Brooklyn, NY) added 10 points each.
After Marin scored the first bucket of the game, the Spartans gradually built a 13-8 lead with 13:21 left in the first half on a Jelani Winfield (Woodside, NY) jumper. The Mavericks cut the gap to three at 13-10 on a McMullen jumper, but St. Thomas Aquinas (5-7, 3-2 ECC) exploded for a 17-0 run to build its largest margin of the contest at 30-10 and settled for a 37-20 lead at the break.
With the Spartans leading by 18 (46-28) six minutes into the second half, Mercy began to chip away. The Mavericks trimmed the deficit to 11 with a 7-0 run, capped by a Wilson three-point play. They would pull within 10 three different times, before finally cutting it to single digits at 59-50 with 1:29 to go.
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Justin McMullen |
Mercy could pull no closer the rest of the way though as St. Thomas Aquinas went 9-for-10 from the free throw line in the final 1:03 to seal the decision.
The Mavericks shot 67 percent from the floor as a team in the second half, finishing at 45 percent for the game.
Wilson went 6-for-10 from the field and also picked up five steals. Marin connected on 5-of-10 from the field, and McMullen went 3-for-4, adding a 4-for-4 night at the charity stripe.
Akeem Comas (Brooklyn, NY) paced the Spartans with 15 points and six rebounds. Vincent Johnson (Teaneck, NJ) added 14 points, five boards and five steals.
The Mavericks return to the court on Saturday, January 17, at Adelphi for a 3:00 p.m. tip-off.
