Men's Basketball Comes Up Short at CCNY

NEW YORK – The Mitchell College men's basketball team opened the 2010-11 season with a 72-69 loss at the City College of New York on Monday night at Nat Holman Gymnasium.

Freshman Jamall McDaniel led the Mariners with 14 points while senior Jenel Russell chipped in with 13 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Mitchell shot 42 percent from the floor in the contest but committed 25 turnovers.

Mitchell's first points of the season came after junior Mercury Fiske made a steal on the opening possession and fed junior Jeff Gomez for a layup. The Mariners led in the early going before CCNY countered with a 12-0 run to pull ahead for the rest of the stanza. Gomez, making his first career start, netted all of his seven points in the half to lead the Mariners.

CCNY led 34-28 at the break and opened up a double-digit margin early in the second half. The deficit ballooned to 17 points with 11:36 remaining before Mitchell fought back, getting back-to-back layups from Russell and junior John Patterson and a three-point play from freshman Tim Quinn to cut it to 10.

Trailing by 13 with 9:39 to play, Mitchell rallied back again behind 10 straight points to trim the deficit to 58-55 with 8:17 to go. Quinn and freshman Alex Del Rio each canned three-pointers during the stretch while freshman Chris Thomas contributed a pair of layups.

CCNY never gave up the lead, though Mitchell got as close as 68-66 with 2:03 to play. McDaniel later sank a three to make it a one-possession game at 72-69 with 1:11 remaining, and CCNY failed to close out the game from the line and missed four freebies in the final 13 seconds. Mitchell had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer but failed to connect on a three-point attempt.

The Mitchell newcomers stepped in and contributed right away. McDaniel added three assists and a pair of steals in his collegiate debut. Thomas recorded eight points and three blocks off the bench while freshman Khafre Tuckett added five rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

Matas Rascius led all scorers with 18 points for the Beavers while Vincent Roberts finished with 17. CCNY shot 40 percent for the game and held a 47-44 edge in rebounds.

Mitchell will play its home opener on Wednesday, November 17 against Western Connecticut State University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.