Kings Point continued its offensive struggles, scoring a season-low 12 points at the half. Meanwhile, Maritime College was stymied to a mere 19 points, but took a seven-point lead into the locker room at the break.
The Privateers tallied four unanswered to take an 11-point lead at the start of the second stanza, but the Mariners would chop away at the deficit with their first run of the game to pull within five (23-18) following a Zach Wyatte jumper with 16:36 remaining.
A quick 5-0 spurt by the Privateers, capped by a Timothy Dougherty three-pointer doubled the Maritime lead to 10 less than two minutes later. MC would sit on that lead for the next several minutes before USMMA would make it intriguing down the stretch. A three-pointer by freshman Alex Loepker with 6:56 remaining made it a one field goal game with 6:56 on the clock. The Mariners then tied the game at 36-all courtesy a 4-0 run with consecutive field goals by Paul Tricarico and Wyatte, respectively.
Then with 4:31 on the ticker, Wyatte would give the Mariners their first lead (39-38) since early in the first half. He would do so again after cashing in on a pair of free throws with 2:41 left, but that would be the final time Kings Point sported the edge.
A pair of free throws by Robert Benton made it advantage Maritime (42-41) with 1:24 remaining. On the next Privateer possession, Danzy Gerard capitalized at the line on a foul by Brian Kelly during a three-point attempt to give MC a four point lead.
Trailing by six with 32 seconds left, USMMA made one last stand with a pair of freebies made by Stephen McDade and three-pointer by Loepker to pull the Mariners to within one, 47-46. But the effort was too little too late as USMMA dropped its fourth straight and fifth in last sixth contest.
Dougherty led the way for Maritime with a game-high 20 points. He was the lone Privateer in double-figures. Wyatte led the way for USMMA with a pair of 13's in points and rebounds for his sixth double-double on the season. Loepker added 12 in the loss.
The win was the first conference win of the season for Maritime College (5-15, 1-8 Skyline), which lifted itself from the ranks of the winless, leaving that title solely to Centenary College.
The Mariners, currently sitting in ninth place at 9-11 overall and 4-5 in league play, will look to climb back to .500 on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 5 versus Manhattanville College at 2 p.m. in Liebertz Gymnasium.