Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Dec. 9, 2015) - Senior point guard
Brandon Williams (Baldwin, N.Y.) inched closer to 1,000 career points with a career night for the Molloy College men's basketball team as the Lions completed an astounding comeback to hold off Mercy College by a score of 77-76 on Wednesday night (Dec. 9) in Dobbs Ferry. The Lions are now 2-5 on the season and 1-0 in ECC play while Mercy falls to 1-4 and 0-2 in conference competition.
Molloy and Mercy traded the first eight points in the game as senior guard Shaquille Stokes (Harlem, N.Y.) opened the contest with a lay-up that was answered by a bucket from
Kevin Bowles (Wantagh, N.Y.) in the first half-minute of play. Then two free throws from Williams gave Molloy a 4-2 lead at the 19:05 mark before the Mavericks took control on an 8-0 run through the next three-plus minutes of play. Junior guard
Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.) knocked down a three-pointer with 15:18 to play and the Lions clawed back to within three at 10-7. Molloy got within one point at 16-15 on a lay-up by
Curtis Jenkins (Farmingdale, N.Y.) with 12:21 remaining in the opening half. Again to the dismay of the maroon and white, the Mavericks built up a commanding cruise control as senior Jason Quijada (Monsey, N.Y.) buried a triple while junior William Robinson (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) scored a two-pointer to give the hosts a nine-point lead at the midway mark of the half.
Mercy's lead swelled to 11 points following a lay-up from Raphael Jennings (Washington, D.C.) to up the Mavs' lead to 31-20, but Jenkins responded with a quick trey to cut the lead back to single digits with under six minutes to go in the first half. Mavericks forward Gerald McClease (New Haven, Conn.) proved to be a challenge for the Lions on defense as back-to-back lay-ups from the senior gave Mercy a 39-25 lead with two-and-a-half minutes remaining. The Lions, undeterred and unimpressed, launched a half-ending 8-0 run with Williams scoring the final six points as Molloy crept back within seven points at 39-32 through the first twenty minutes of play.
The Lions opened the second half of play by cutting the Mavericks' lead to five points on five separate occasions, including a Morris lay-up that made the score 52-47 with 12:37 to play in regulation. That started a personal 8-0 run by the junior which concluded with a three-pointer that gave Molloy a 53-52 lead, the first advantage for the Lions since a 4-2 lead in the first half, with just under 11 minutes remaining. Mercy retook the lead less than a minute later with Quijada hitting a jumper which was followed up by a lay-up from K.J. Rose (Binghamton, N.Y.) as the Mavs increased their edge to 58-55 with 9:15 left in the contest. The maroon and white staged another rally as junior
Charlie Marquardt (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) hit his first shot of the contest with 7:32 remaining to cut the Mavs' lead to 60-59 when Quijada and Williams traded three-pointers thirty seconds later.
Morris gave the Lions the lead back with 6:07 to go on a lay-up that was quickly answered by a bucket in the paint from Rose, allowing Mercy to take the 65-64 advantage. Stokes would create pandemonium at Mercy Gymnasium by nailing a three-pointer to give the Mavericks a four-point lead with under six minutes remaining, but Morris scored consecutive baskets to keep Molloy involved and level the score at 68-all with 4:49 remaining in regulation. Following a Quijada miss, Williams converted a three-point play to create a 71-68 lead for Molloy with under four-and-a-half minutes remaining. The senior extended Molloy's lead to a five-point edge with a lay-up moments later, but Mercy continued its resilient push back as Stokes knocked down a free throw and Rose hit a jumper to bring the Mavs within two at 73-71 with 2:36 to play. McClease followed with a knockdown bucket that leveled the score at 73-all with exactly 100 seconds remaining.
Morris struck for the Lions with a pivotal jumper to give the visitors a 75-73 advantage with 1:22 to play, and Rose could not convert the answer. Williams was then fouled and he sank two free throws with 44 seconds left to give the maroon and white a four-point lead. A frenetic sequence followed as Rose again missed a lay-in, and McClease could not put back the second chance effort with just over 30 seconds remaining. Stokes had a lay-up blocked by Williams, but a loose ball foul was called with 21 ticks left on the clock. Robinson hit one of two free throws, but corralled the offensive rebound and scored on a lay-up for an unconventional three-point play to bring the Mavs within one at 77-76 with 17 seconds remaining. Molloy attempted to run the clock out, but the Lions committed a turnover with six seconds on the clock to set up the game's final shot. The Mavericks put the ball in the hands of Rose but the forward missed the game-winning lay-up as time expired, allowing the maroon and white to escape Dobbs Ferry with the victory.
Williams led the Lions with a career-high 27 points on a 9-for-20 shooting performance from the field, along with an 8-of-11 mark from the free throw line. The senior point guard now has 942 career points, needing just 68 to become the 14th member of the Molloy College men's basketball team to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau. Morris collected 23 points and a team-high seven rebounds, with the junior hitting a staggering 10 field goals in 12 attempts. Bowles got back to his hot-handed shooting ways by hitting six shots in nine attempts and scoring 12 points while adding six rebounds as well. The maroon and white hit 51% (31-61) of its field goal attempts in the victory despite knocking down just 20% (5-20) of its three-point attempts and a 10-for-16 (63%) performance from the free throw line.
Five players had double-digit point totals for Mercy, led by a team-high 17 from Stokes. Robinson added 13 and a team-best 12 rebounds, while Quijada, McClease and senior Tyseem Lyles (Brooklyn, N.Y.) each added 12 points. The Mavericks shot 42% (33-79) from the field, including a 4-for-15 (27%) performance from beyond the arc to go along with a 60% (6-10) night from the charity stripe.
Molloy claimed victory despite being outrebounded 47-33 in the contest as Mercy bullied its way to 20 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points. The Lions did win the battle in the paint, scoring 48 points and yielding 44 points from the Mavs.
Head Coach
Charles Marquardt and the Molloy College men's basketball team will return to the place where the Lions' season began on Saturday (Dec. 12) as the maroon and white face the defending ECC regular-season champion Saint Thomas Aquinas Spartans at Aquinas Hall in Sparkill, N.Y. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. Be sure to follow along with live stats at
www.MolloyLions.com, as well as liking the Lions on Facebook and following Molloy's athletics program on Twitter and Instagram.
