Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Men's Basketball team matched the best start in program history, posting its tenth straight victory to open the season with a hard fought 88-84 win over FDU-Florham on Saturday afternoon. Alvin Pegues (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led five Dolphins in double-figures with 22 points, while junior Joe Ecock (Brooklyn, N.Y.) posted a season-high 14 points.

 The Dolphins did not trail in the first half on Saturday, but could only gain a lead as large as five points. The Dolphins entered the intermission shooting 44.7-percent from the floor and with a 42-39 advantage. Ecock led all players at the break with 11 points after going 4-for-6 from the floor and 1-for-2 from behind the arc.

 Mount Saint Vincent also forced 15 FDU-Florham turnovers in the period and translated those into 15 points and held a 20-16 edge in the paint to overcome the Devils' Will Green and Mike Williamson posting 10 points each. FDU-Florham shot 60-percent from three-point range before the intermission.

 FDU-Florham would gain its first lead of the afternoon after a quick 10-4 run to open the half and stretched the lead to as many as eight after a Derek Hall jumper at the 13:12 mark of the second. The Mount would rally to put together a 10-3 spurt over nearly two and half minutes to gain a 65-64 lead and an advantage it would not give up the rest of the afternoon.

 The Mount would grab its largest lead of the afternoon with 2:51 left in regulation time when Pegues drained a pair of free-throws to push the Dolphins in front 80-73. The Devils would not go quietly over the final three minutes and got their deficit down to just one point after a Green free-throw with 16 ticks left.

 Shaquille Cunningham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Pegues would combine to hit three free-throws in the final 15 seconds to secure the win for the Mount. Cunningham finished up with 10 points on the afternoon and has not notched double-figures in the scoring column the last four games. He also handed out six assists in the tilt and snared five rebounds.

 Pegues scored better then 20 points for the second straight game after going 8-for-16 from the field overall and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. 18 of his 22 points came after halftime on Saturday. He led the team with nine rebounds and tied for the team lead along with Dino Johnson (Fort Johnson, N.Y.) with four steals.

 Cody Gauvard (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Omonya Onwe (Staten Island, N.Y.) posted 15 and 13 points respectively in the contest with Onwe collecting five rebounds. The duo combined to go 12-for-17 from the floor and also teamed up for three assists and three steals.

 Ecock had his strongest game of the season for the Dolphins, coming off the bench to go 5-for-8 from the floor and 2-for-3 from long distance. He also grabbed a career-high eight rebounds for the Dolphins and swiped three steals.

 Overall in the game, Mount Saint Vincent shot 47.2-percent from the floor and 31.6-percent from three-point distance. After going 4-for-5 from the free-throw line in the first half, the Dolphins closed the game shooting 73.7-percent from the stripe and went just 10-for-14 in the second half.

 FDU-Florham had all five of its starters register double-figures in the score column with Green leading the way with 26 points and a game-high 17 rebounds. He was 7-for-17 from the floor and 12-for-18 from the free-throw line. Hall also notched a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards.

 The win extends the Dolphins winning streak to 10 games and pushes them to 10-0 overall on the season. Mount Saint Vincent will be off until January 4 when it returns to Skyline Conference play and travels to Farmingdale St. Tip-off with the Rams is set for 8:00 p.m.