Staten Island, NY | The College of Staten Island Men's Basketball Team fell to Mercy College tonight, 71-64. CSI outscored the Mavericks in the second half (37-34) but had trouble scratching in crunch time. This is now a five-game losing streak for the Dolphins. CSI falls to 7-18 on the season (6-11 ECC), while on the other side, the mavericks improve to 6-18 overall (6-11 ECC).

KEY MOMENTS
Mercy came out on fire. They started the game on a 7-0 run, forcing the Dolphins to talk it over early. Both teams would trade baskets, and the Mavericks would lead by seven, 13-6. Behind stifling defense by the Mavs and sloppy play by CSI, Mercy opened up a nine-point advantage, 19-10. Bryce Waterman would go on an individual 5-0 run to cut the lead to just four at the 8:03 mark, 19-15. Both squads traded and-1's and the Mavericks led 26-20 with three minutes to go in the half. Behind some blazing hot shooting from Mercy, CSI quickly found themselves in a 15-point deficit, 35-20. The Dolphins entered intermission trailing by 10, 37-27. Early out of the half, it became a back-and-forth affair. CSI was able to cut the Mavericks lead in half, 45-40. Behind a Chris Velazquez triple, the Dolphins would only trail by two, 47-45. The Dolphins comeback continued as they would take their first lead following a Waterman triple, 55-53. Mercy was forced to call a timeout as the Dolphins extended their lead to four with 5:54 to go in the contest. Down the stretch, the intensity really picked up. Both teams began to trade blows. Mercy would lead by four with one minute remaining though, 68-64. CSI would see their second half push fall short as they had trouble scoring in crunch time. They lost to Mercy 71-64.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
The Dolphins put together a well-rounded performance tonight. They scored 64 points, grabbed down 41 rebounds, and dished out 10 assists. In the contest they shot 40% from the field, 30% from three and 77% from the line. CSI was plagued by their 18 turnovers which resulted in 21 points for the Mavericks. Mercy also outscored the Dolphins 24-7 in bench points. The Dolphins, however, were able to out rebound the Mavericks 41-39. For the game, Mercy shot 41% from the field, 38% from three, and 79% from the line.

DOLPHIN OF THE GAME
Tonight's Dolphins of the Game are Chris Velasquez and Bryce Waterman. Velasquez scored a season-high 19 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists. He shot 50% from the field (6-12) and 50% from three (2-4). Waterman continued his offensive onslaught with a team-high 23 points behind 5-11 shooting from deep. He played a team-high 36 minutes. These two helped spearhead the Dolphins second half push.