BRADFORD, P.A. – The Medaille College men's basketball team continued their road game win streak against conference opponent Pitt-Bradford. The Mavs rallied together in the second half to win 77-75. The Mavericks move to 10-11 on the season, and 7-6 in the conference.
Medaille struck first with
Jorarei Bile (Oxon Hill, MD, Oxon Hill) turning an offensive rebound into a made layup. The Panthers responded with a three, but the Mavs took the lead back with another layup from Bile.
Jaqwan Washington (Bryan, TX, Bryan) got in on the action with a made layup followed by a three pointer from
Travis Sanders (Cleveland, OH, Euclid). Both teams battled back and forth with five lead changes before
Rodney Graves (Woodbridge, VA, Colgan) hit a jumper in the paint while being fouled. Graves sunk his free-throw to put the Mavs up 24-21.
The lead did not last long as the Panthers capitalized on Maverick turnovers to pull ahead 31-26. Washington and
Kendall McGill (Largo, MD, Largo) were able to find success offensively, but Pitt-Bradford put the pressure on with three minutes left in the first half. The Panthers jumped ahead 41-33 before
Daunte Wilcott (Erie, PA, Mercyhurst Prep) connected on a jumper in the paint with 40 seconds to play. The Panthers managed to score one more time before half which gave them a 43-35 lead.
The Panthers continued their momentum from the first half with two three-pointers to go up by 14 points. Bile answered with a fastbreak layup, and a McGill steal led to a made jumper from Washington. McGill continued to impress with a blocked shot and steal that helped lead to a three by
Bryce Smith (College Station, TX, A&M; Consolidated). It took less than two minutes for the Mavs to cut the Panther lead in half. Pitt-Bradford managed to sneak a few layups in, but the Medaille Mavericks were hitting their stride.
Graves continued to score with a layup and three-pointer as the Mavs continued to fight. Sanders made both of his free throws and
Trevor Young (Buffalo, NY, Frederick Law Olmsted) hit a three to get the Mavs within six points with just over ten minutes left to play. McGill and Graves took over the next three minutes of play as the Mavs went from being down 56-62, to now leading 65-62. Graves hit a three to put the Mavs up by five, but the Panthers refused to back down. They tied the score up at 73 before McGill sunk a clutch three-pointer with 29 seconds left in the game. The Panthers scored in the paint to get within one, but a final free-throw from Graves sealed the 77-75 victory.
The Mavs improved on all of their shooting percentages in the second half. Overall, they shot 29-67 (43.3%) from the field, 6-20 (30%) from three, and 13-22 (59.1%) from the free-throw line.
Game leaders for the Mavericks were Graves with 16 points going 5-8 with seven rebounds, and four steals, McGill with 15 points going 6-17 with seven rebounds and two steals, and Washington with 14 points going 5-10 with three rebounds and three assists. Bile added 11 points going 5-7 with a team-high eight rebounds.
The Mavericks will return to play at home on Saturday, February 12 to celebrate senior day. The Mavs will face Pitt-Greensburg at 3:00 p.m.
