GAMEDAY: MEN'S BASKETBALL FACES D'YOUVILLE LOOKING FOR BIG CONFERENCE WIN

2/5/2023 12:00:00 PM

Buffalo, NY - The College of Staten Island Men's Basketball Team will be in search of a much-needed conference win this afternoon when they face off with the D'Youville University Saints at 3 PM. The Dolphins enter today's game 6-15 on the season and are 4-7 against conference opponents. The Saints come in 3-17 on the year and are 2-9 in conference play. The Dolphins have never lost to the Saints as they swept the two-game season series last year and defeated the Saints at home in their first meeting earlier this season.

The Dolphins were last in action on Friday against Daemen University and had a tough outing against the Wildcats for the second time this year. After the two teams started slowly and traded baskets for much of the first half, the Daemen offense came to life and propelled the Wildcats to a lopsided win. The Saints last played on Friday night as well and suffered an 18-point defeat against the University of the District fo Columbia.

It was an uncharacteristically poor shooting performance for the Dolphins on Friday night, but Chris Velasquez and David Shkolniy both shot the ball well in the loss. However, the Dolphins will look to leading scorers Messiah Mallory and Bryce Waterman to lead a bounce-back effort in today's game as neither scored in double-figures on Friday. Last time the Dolphins faced the Saints, Mallory finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, JJ Chestnut scored 21, and Luis Armas scored 18. The Dolphins shot 56% from the field and held the Saints under 35% shooting in what may have been the best all-around effort of the season for the Dolphins to that point. Willie Kondrat, the D'Youville's leading scorer, led the Saints in scoring in that matchup against CSI earlier this year with 19 points. Like Mallory, he also had a double-double in the game as he finished with 10 rebounds as well. Kondrat was one of four Saints to score in double-figures in the game, but after trailing by just two at halftime, the Saints were outscored 50-30 in the second half.

The Dolphins still control their own fate in the chase for the final East Coast Conference playoff spot. With three weeks remaining in the season the Dolphins are currently tied with Queens College for the sixth and final playoff position. Queens is idle until Wednesday when they face the Dolphins at The Tank so if CSI picks up a win today, they will take possession of sixth place in the conference. However, with Queens currently owning the tiebreaker over CSI, the Dolphins would need to win on Wednesday to retain control of that spot in the standings.

Gametime - 3:00 PM
Location - Buffalo, NY
All-Time Series - CSI leads, 3-0
Last Meeting - 1/8/23: CSI won, 92-70

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