Nappi Scores Career-High 19 Points as Men’s Basketball Tops Mt. St. Vincent

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| Senior Dan Nappi tallied a career-best 19 points as the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's basketball team defeated the College of Mount St. Vincent 82-66 in a crucial Skyline Conference contest at home on Saturday afternoon.

With the win the Golden Eagles improve to 8-14 on the year and 7-6 in conference play, one win behind Yeshiva University who sits in third place. The Dolphins slide to 5-16 on the year and 4-8 in Skyline action with the loss.

Nappi's 19 points came off 4-6 shooting from three in a match that saw him also collect five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Fellow senior Andy Laurent went for a game-best 22 points (9-11 FT) and freshman Frank Basile contributed 13 points on 4-9 shooting.

Sophomore Brad Weiss grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Mt. St. Vincent scored the game's first basket and remained in control for nearly the entire first half until a Nappi layup with 1:22 to play in the period knotted the score up at 23.

With 45 seconds to play CMSV's Jason Barrera gave the Dolphins a 25-23 lead before Trevor Johnson's three-ball with four seconds remaining ensured the Golden Eagles entered the break down five (28-23).

Down four at 16:54 (36-32), a 9-0 run put SJC ahead 41-36 and in control for the first time on the afternoon.

A Barrera three-pointer cut the CMSV deficit to two points (41-39) moments later, but a crippling 12-2 run from the hosts saw them up 12 points (53-41) with 10:06 left in regulation.

Maintaining momentum in the closing moments, St. Joseph's went up 18 points after Basile's layup with 24 seconds to play before earning the 82-66 victory.

SJC was the better shooting team from the field (45%-42.2%), from three (35%-31.6%) and from the charity stripe (67.7%-50%) and also held advantages in rebounds (40-35) and fastbreak points (18-5).

The Golden Eagles return to action on Tuesday, February 14 when they host St. Joseph's (Brkln) for Senior Day at 8:00 PM. Live stats for the match will be available here.