Newburgh, NY – Tonight in the opening round of the ECAC tournament, Mount Saint Mary College pulled out a big victory over Rutgers-Newark 97-91. Both teams came into today’s contest off a conference semifinal loss, Mount Saint Mary College fell to Manhattanville College 89-85 while Rutgers-Newark loss to William Patterson University 67-61. In the opening minute of play the Blue Knights were sparked by a three point play from junior Mike Hoyt, who finished the game with 25 points and six assists. From then on the two teams traded baskets until 4:28 left in the first half when Brandon Weldon’s lay-up put the Mount up by two points bettering the score to 34-32. The score at intermission was 44-39 and from then on the game belonged to Mount Saint Mary College.
Brandon Weldon finished with 23 points, shooting 57% from the floor (8-14). J.D Fogarty was the spark off the bench scoring 14 points (eleven of which came in the first half) and added three assists and two blocks. Fogarty shot a whooping 100% from downtown going 3-3, while shooting 80% from the floor. Julio Ramirez netted 15 points and had three steals for the Blue Knights.
Mount Saint Mary College will face off against Kean University for the second round of the ECAC tournament. Tonight Kean University defeated, the Mount’s Skyline Conference rival, Manhattanville College 97-91. The Blue Knights are tentatively scheduled to host the second round of the ECAC tournament at Newburgh Free Academy at 7:00 p.m. on Friday March, 3rd.