Marist men’s basketball (20-9, 13-7 MAAC) is trending in the wrong direction heading into the MAAC tournament, losing their fourth in a row in their regular season finale to Mount St. Mary’s 62-52 Saturday afternoon.
The Mount (19-12, 12-8 MAAC) outscored Marist 39-23 in the second half on their senior day to more than make up a six-point halftime deficit. Redshirt junior Dola Adebayo notched his fourth double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Dallas Hobbs added 17 points, combining with Adebayo to put Marist away late.
“Hobbs made some really tough shots during that one stretch. I’ll live with a couple of those shots in AC. We did a decent enough job on the defensive end,” said Marist head coach John Dunne.
The Red Foxes struggled again offensively, scoring under 60 points for the fourth straight game and shooting 31% from the floor. Senior forward Jackson Price returned to the starting lineup and led the Red Foxes with 13 points. Sophomore guard Josh Pascrelli narrowly avoided scoring under 10 points for the third consecutive game with 11 points on 4-18 shooting.
Marist attempted 34 3-point shots, only making nine. Many were good looks, either off of offensive rebounds or ball movement. Unfortunately for them, those shots did not fall and the Red Foxes stay as the No. 3 seed position for next week’s MAAC tournament.
Freshman forward Tarik Watson suffered a leg injury in warmups and did not play. In Price’s second game since returning from a foot injury, he re-entered the starting lineup.
“I’m sad for Tarik because he’s been playing pretty good for us. Once he went down, we figured we’d put Jackson back into the starting lineup. He got an opportunity to get the rust off today,” said Dunne.
The Mount’s best shooter, sophomore guard Carmelo Pacheco, played only six minutes suffering a finger injury in the first half. Despite that, MSM shot 40% from 3-point range with Hobbs and Adebayo making five.
Marist did not score for the first four minutes until redshirt freshman center Jason Schofield came off the bench and finished a hook shot. That sparked a 17-3 Red Foxes run including consecutive defensive stops and getting into the paint on offense.
Price scored five and Schofield added six to push the Red Foxes to a 19-11 lead with 7:58 left in the first half. Marist attacked the offensive glass and earned second-chance opportunities throughout.
“They were a good 1-2 combo today. I’m encouraged, besides a select few offensive possessions, I thought we were more in rhythm today than we had been in a long time. I just don’t think the shots went in,” said Dunne.
Mount got back into the game by holding Marist to just two field goals in the final four minutes to trail 29-23 at halftime. Price scored eight in 10 minutes and Adebayo matched that with eight points and eight rebounds.
To open the second half, neither team scored until senior forward Jedy Cordillia finished inside around two minutes in. Marist called timeout after an Adebayo score and their offense playing out of sync, shooting 0-3 with two turnovers.
Pascarelli air-balled a 3-pointer and Mount took a lead behind an 8-0 run early in the second frame. Marist badly needed an answer and Price scored the first Red Fox bucket of the half with his third 3-pointer at the 13:51 mark.
Hobbs scored the next 10 Mount points, pushing their lead to five with perimeter jump shots. The Mountaineers continued that run, stretching their lead to nine and forcing a Marist timeout.
The Red Foxes found several looks from deep but continued missing a ton, going 5-25 from behind the arc with 9:11 left in the game, trailing by nine.
“We missed a lot of open shots. It just is what it is. For the most part, our shot selection was pretty good,” said Dunne.
Pascarelli ended a four-minute drought with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, catching the front rim and trickling in. Out of the under-eight timeout, Pascarelli hit another to make it a one-possession game.
Mount matched Marist’s sudden offensive output to lead by six before a Marist timeout with 3:20 remaining.
Adebayo drilled a late shot-clock 3-pointer to add to his double-double performance; junior guard Javon Ervin scored on a broken play to effectively finish the game with 1:49 left.
“There’s nothing really much to be said other than we’re going down there and be nothing but be confident. We have to rest our legs a little bit and even our mindset,” said Dunne.
Marist heads to Atlantic City as the No. 3 seed and will face this Mount St. Mary’s team again in five days on Thursday, March 13. Tipoff at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
Edited by: Aidan Lavin
Graphic: Quinn DiFiore; Photo: Jaylen Rizzo
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