Men's Basketball Escapes With 95-89 Victory Over Mercy
DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Feb. 5, 2010) – The C.W. Post men's basketball team made five-of-six free throws in the last 37 seconds on Saturday afternoon's East Coast Conference matchup, sealing the 95-89 victory over the Mavericks of Mercy College.
C.W. Post improves to 15-7, 12-3 in conference play, while Mercy falls to 1-19 overall, 1-4 in ECC action.
The Pioneers opened up the game with an emphatic dunk by junior guard Stefan Bonneau (Middletown, N.Y.). A layup by Tobin Carberry's (Hamden, Conn.) layup at 14:37 put C.W. Post up 19-12, but Mercy answered back with an improved offensive tempo and took a 30-28 lead with 9:19 to play following Colin Senior's trey.
The Mavericks held onto a slim lead for the next three minutes, but C.W. Post's Vaughn Allen (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) converted two free throws, tying the game and then giving the Pioneers the lead, 35-34, with 6:05 remaining in the half.
Mercy tied up the score again, and for the next three minutes, everytime C.W. Post pulled ahead, the Mavericks answered with a game-tying shot of their own. With 56 seconds remaining, a jumper by senior forward Aaron Hall (Syracuse, N.Y.) gave C.W. Post a five point lead, but Mercy's Senior hit a trey to cut the lead to 50-48 with 35 seconds to play, and the score remained the same heading into the halftime break.
The Pioneers started out strong in the second half, but saw their lead dissipate as a 13-2 run by the Mavericks brought the score to 76-66 and gave Mercy the double digit lead with 10:21 to play in the second half.
However, C.W. Post kept the game manageable, and with 1:40 to play and trailing 98-88, the Pioneers made their move, as sophomore Jonathan Kohler (Bordentown, N.J.) swished a layup to give C.W. Post a 90-89 lead. With 21 seconds left, Bonneau converted 4-of-4 layups to seal the win for the Pioneers.
C.W. Post shot 54.4% from the floor, making 31-of-57 shots, but only 28.6% from beyond the arc. The Pioneers held a distinctive advantage from the free throw line, converting 27 of 36 attempts, as well as a slim 35-32 edge on the glass.
Bonneau led C.W. Post with 25 points, followed by Hall's 21 and Carberry's 20 points. Kohler chipped in with 14 points.
The Mavericks were led by Manny Garcia's 23 points, followed by Senior with 19 points, while Ed Wilson added 17 points, and Hasan Powell chipped in 14 points.