Mooney scored his 1,500th point during arguably his finest performance of the season as he had an incredible shooting night despite a ferocious effort by Centenary (2-9, 0-4 Skyline Conference) to deny him the ball. The senior scored 11 first half points, but struggled during the first 20 minutes, shooting 4 for 9 during that span. The second half was a different story as Mooney converted 10 of the 13 shots he took, including a 5 for 6 effort from three-point range during the final 20 minutes. His 1,500th career point came with 13:43 remaining in the game, a three-point basket off of an assist by Charles Hernandez (Bronx, NY/Msgr. Scanlan). Hernandez finished the game with a game-high 11 assists.
Mooney is the third Dolphin to score 1,500 points during his career, and is still in the hunt to become the all-time leading scorer in Mount Saint Vincent history. His 1,518 career points leaves him 266 points away from breaking the Mount Saint Vincent career scoring record, meaning he must average 22.1 points per game the rest of the way in order to get there. The 37-point effort was Mooney’s fifth game this season with 30 points or more, and his 10th game with at least 20 points.
There was more than one hot hand for Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday as fellow senior Greg Casey (Mount Vernon, NY/Blessed Sacrament) concluded an incredible week of play with 19 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Sophomore Corey Petrucelli (Stratford, CT/St. Joseph’s) also tied his season high scoring total with 12 points. The effort by the high-scoring trio was necessary as Centenary trailed only 39-34 at halftime, and things could have been even closer, but the Cyclones converted only five of 17 first half free throw attempts. Centenary was within single digits until 15:43 remained in the game, but the Dolphins went on a 16-3 run at that point to break the game wide open. Mooney, Casey, and Petrucelli combined for 44 of Mount Saint Vincent’s 54 second half points.
For Centenary, Kyle Warner scored 16 points, while Tom Van Benschoten and Alex Kuchar each scored 12 points.
Mount Saint Vincent will look to win their second consecutive game on Monday, Jan. 9 when the Dolphins host Skyline Conference foe, King’s Point at 7:00 p.m. Prior to the start of the game, Mooney will be honored in front of the home crowd for his 1,500th career point.
Newspaper Box Score CMSV-M vs CENTENARY COLLEGE 1/7/06 4:00 PM at HACKETTSTOWN, NJ At HACKETTSTOWN, NJ CMSV-M 93, CENTENARY COLLEGE 69 CMSV-M (4-9) MOONEY, James 14-22 2-5 37; CASEY, Greg 8-14 2-4 19; PETRUCELLI, Corey 6-11 0-0 12; HERCHE, Jarrett 4-4 1-2 9; CHARLTON, Derek 2-4 4-4 8; BIOLSI, Tim 1-5 0-0 2; MUER, Tyler 1-2 0-0 2; BRITZ, Charlie 1-2 0-0 2; HERNANDEZ, Charles 1-6 0-0 2. Totals 38-70 9-17 93. CENTENARY COLLEGE (3-8) KYLE WARNER 6-16 0-3 16; TOM VAN BENSCHOTEN 6-8 0-2 12; ALEX KUCHAR 4-13 2-2 12; JOSH DAVIDSON 3-14 2-2 10; STEPHEN MCNAMARA 2-5 0-0 5; ANDRE HARRIS 2-8 0-2 4; GEORGE OPOKU 0-2 3-8 3; KOBEI CUMMINGS 0-9 2-2 2; TAYLLOR COOPER 0-1 1-4 1; JUSTIN DEFEO 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-77 14-29 69. CMSV-M........................ 39 54 - 93 CENTENARY COLLEGE............. 34 35 - 69 3-point goals-CMSV-M 8-18 (MOONEY, James 7-11; CASEY, Greg 1-3; BIOLSI, Tim 0-3; HERNANDEZ, Charles 0-1), CENTENARY COLLEGE 9-38 (KYLE WARNER 4-12; JOSH DAVIDSON 2-9; ALEX KUCHAR 2-6; STEPHEN MCNAMARA 1-4; KOBEI CUMMINGS 0-6; ANDRE HARRIS 0-1). Fouled out--CMSV-M-None, CENTENARY COLLEGE-None. Rebounds-CMSV-M 51 (CASEY, Greg 8), CENTENARY COLLEGE 50 (ANDRE HARRIS 8). Assists-CMSV-M 26 (HERNANDEZ, Charles 11), CENTENARY COLLEGE 11 (ALEX KUCHAR 5). Total fouls-CMSV-M 22, CENTENARY COLLEGE 18. A-150