ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Jan. 26, 2016) – A wire-to-wire win over Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday (Jan. 23) was just what the Molloy College men's basketball team needed to stay within striking distance of a postseason berth in the East Coast Conference. To stay relevant in the conversation for an ECC playoff appearance for another year, the Lions are going to have to run a gambit and a gauntlet of conference foes beginning with Mercy College on Wednesday night (Jan. 27).
The Lowdown on the Lions
In a game that was as important as any matchup has been all season, the maroon and white asserted early dominance and never let the Redhawks come up for air in a 76-59 win at the Voller Athletic Center in Rochester. A three-headed effort for the Lions proved to be enough: junior guard Charlie Marquardt (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) had 28 points to tie his season-high for scoring, fellow junior Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.) had 16 points, 17 rebounds and a record-tying six blocks and freshman guard Curtis Jenkins (Farmingdale, N.Y.) added 21 points and seven rebounds.
Thousand Point Pursuit
Going into the weekend, Morris was at 872 career points and Marquardt had a total of 770 points for his three-year career. After a 20-point weekend, Morris now stands at 892 points for his career which could have been higher if not for him being neutralized and held to four points in his hometown against Daemen College in Amherst. Meanwhile, Marquardt blitzed through Western New York for 52 points over the two games to get up to 822 points as the 1,000-point plateau draws nearer.
Marquardt Makes It Look Easy
The Rockaway Beach native was named to the ECC Men's Basketball Weekly Honor Roll on Monday as well as being named the MolloyLions.com Male Athlete of the Week for his dominant efforts against Daemen and Roberts. Against the Redhawks, Marquardt hit 50% (9-18) of his field goals for one of his better shooting performances of the year. Despite this, the junior was just 8-for-25 from beyond the three-point arc. The willingness to launch the ball from deep range is not lost on Marquardt; that said he needs to make more threes to keep his team relevant in the postseason push.
Too Close For Comfort Last Time
Molloy snuck out of Dobbs Ferry on Dec. 9 with a 77-76 win over Mercy College in the Lions' East Coast Conference opener. Senior guard Brandon Williams (Baldwin, N.Y.) scored a career-high 27 points as the maroon and white rallied from 14 points down to take the lead late in the second half and survive a frenetic final minute-and-a-half as the Mavs could not score the game-winner at the final buzzer. Senior forward Kevin Bowles (Wantagh, N.Y.) scored 12 points in the win on a 6-for-9 performance from the field.
You're Dangerous, Maverick(s)!
Molloy hosted Dowling College back on Jan. 16 with the Golden Lions coming off two games in which the team scored 91 and 105 points, respectively. On Wednesday, the maroon and white will host a Mercy College club that scored 94 and 96 points in its last two games. The Mavericks won a 96-86 slugfest with Dowling on Jan. 20 at the Westchester County Center with senior guard Tyseem Lyles (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scoring a season-high 26 points to lead Mercy to the win. Junior guard Isaiah Cosbert (Queens, N.Y.) turned in an impressive performance with 18 points off the bench and junior forward William Robinson (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) added 17 and seven rebounds for the Mavs.
Historic Conference Start
For years, Mercy College had been somewhat of an afterthought in the East Coast Conference for men's basketball. This year, the second under the leadership of Dr. Jody King, has been anything but an afterthought. With a 4-5 record in conference play, not only are the Mavericks sitting in the No. 6 seed of the ECC standings (which is a playoff position) but also the Mavs are off to their best start in conference competition since the 2006-07 season. That being said, Mercy won just five games in the 2006-07 season; but the job that Dr. King has done with Mercy this season could net him serious consideration for ECC Coach of the Year if the results keep favoring the squad from Dobbs Ferry.
Stokes Making Believers
The long and winding road for senior guard Shaquille Stokes (Harlem, N.Y.) has led him to this point in his life and basketball career with the Mercy Mavericks. Stokes' career started in Honolulu with the University of Hawaii and then took a wild sequence of turns to Hofstra University in Hempstead. Following two years of not competing for an NCAA varsity program (including spending last season with the College of Saint Rose), the senior guard has become an impressive sixth man for the Mavs off the bench. Stokes scored 28 points in a 94-84 win over UDC back on Jan. 16 and he currently leads the team with a points-per-game average of 13.4. The Harlem native has started just four contests, but his versatility and acumen off the bench are providing an incredible spark to give Mercy a chance to make a surprising run.
