Box Score

Bronx, NY (Jan. 16, 2013) – Undeterred by the sea of white t-shirts on an evening when the College of Mount Saint Vincent tried everything to distract the Purchase College men's basketball team, the surging Panthers were having none of it.

Third-place Purchase (11-2, 5-2 Skyline Conference) continued on course for the postseason in an 86-73 win at CMSV Wednesday night. Dolphin senior Sean Caputo finished with a career-high 20 points, including a career-best six 3-pointers, but the Panthers flashed offensive brilliance and balanced scoring in another key league win.

The Panthers shot better then 53 percent in the second half and knocked down three of their four 3-pointers. David Haughton (JR/Greenburgh. NY) finished the night with a game-high 22 points on 10 of 15 shooting, while Joel Neri (SO/Port Chester, NY) and Andre Nixon (JR/Harlem, NY) each chipped in with 17. Justin Person (JR/Greenburgh, NY) led the Panthers with five assists and standout reserve Ryan Lobban (JR/Bronx, NY) totaled 12 points.
 
In a game that featured scoring runs for each squad, the Dolphins battled back from an early 10-2 deficit with an 8-2 spurt to slice their disadvantage to two. Gerard Fraser sparked the run with four points to get the Mount to within 12-10 with 13:41 left in the opening frame.
 
The Dolphins would tie the score for the first time on the night following a D'Andre McPhatter three-point play with 10:38 left before the break, but quickly fell behind after nine straight points from the visitors.

Nixon hit a 3-pointer and hit a pair of free-throws to ignite the run.
 
Mount Saint Vincent would use a spurt of its own to grab its first lead of the night with just under six minutes left in the period.
Shortly later, Caputo knocked in one of his six triples over the stretch and Michael Knott pushed the Mount in front with a free-throw.
 
Just 21 seconds after Knott gave the Dolphins their first lead, Haughton got the Panthers back in front with a jumper that started an 8-0 stretch for the Panthers.

Caputo would get six of the seven point disadvantage back with a pair of three-pointers in the final 1:14 that sent the Dolphins to the locker room down 38-37.
 
Mount Saint Vincent finished the half shooting 48.4 percent from the floor, but the Panthers used two more field goal makes, 26 points in the paint and 10 second chance points to build the slim halftime advantage.

Haughton led all players with 12 points and nine rebounds after 20 minutes.
 
The Dolphins would not be able to pull back even with the Panthers in the second half.
 
Following a Caputo triple for the Dolphins to within 57-54 with 10:39 left in the contest, Purchase went on a 14-6 spurt to spread its advantage out to 12 points on a Neri three-point play with 4:55 remaining.
 
Caputo rounded out the career-night going 7 of 11 overall and 6 of 9 from three-point range.
 
Wednesday's loss sends Mount Saint Vincent to a 4-10 overall record and a 2-5 mark in league play.  

Purchase returns to action Saturday at NYU-POLY. The Panthers are in the midst of a three-game road series before returning home next Thursday to host Yeshiva University. 

-CMSV Sports Information Contributed to this report