Vazquez Drops 28 in Men’s Basketball’s Loss to Mt. St. Mary

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| Senior Fernando Vazquez led all scorers with 28 points but it would not be enough as the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's basketball team dropped a 65-59 decision on the road to Skyline Conference rival Mount St. Mary College on Tuesday evening.

With the loss the Golden Eagles fall to 6-14 on the season and 5-6 in conference play as the Knights improve to 11-7 (6-4 Skyline).

Vazquez's 28 points came off 8-15 shooting from the field and 7-10 shooting from three. Junior Isaiah Moore contributed eight points and freshman Frank Basile went for seven.

Senior Andy Laurent grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Leading the way for the Knights was Jason Jones who went for 15 points on 5-10 shooting.

After falling behind 10-0 at the 15:25 mark the Golden Eagles used a 13-2 run--capped off by a Laurent layup-- to go up 13-12 with 7:47 to play in the first period. Later, tied at 15-15, the Knights strung together a 11-2 run to ensure they entered the break with a nine-point lead (26-17).

SJC would fall behind 11 (35-24) at 13:18 of the second but brought the game back to within two points (41-39) with furious 17-4 run which ended with a Vazquez three-ball with 7:45 to play in regulation.

Two converted free throws by Moore at 6:06 tied the game at 43 but 16 seconds later the Knights went back ahead and fended off the Golden Eagles in the closing minutes to earn the 64-59 victory.

Neither team shot well from the field but Mary's held the advantage over the SJC (37.5%-32.1%). Despite holding advantages in fastbreak points (8-6) and bench points (17-14). St. Joseph's was worse off in most other statistical categories including rebounds (44-32) and points of turnovers (16-13).

The Golden Eagles return to action on Sunday, February 5 when they host Yeshiva University in a Skyline showdown inside the Danzi Center at 1:00 PM. Live video and stats will be available here.