PHILADELPHIA – The Holy Family University Men's Basketball Team trailed for just 27 seconds in a 96-85 season-opening win over Mercy at Jefferson on Friday evening. 
 
It was notably Head Coach John Baron's first game at the helm of the program. 
 
Individual Highlights

• Najee Coursey (Egg Harbor City, N.J./Cedar Creek (Sacred Heart University)) topped the Tigers with a career-high 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting
• Making his collegiate debut, Matt Gardler (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) led all players with six assists and three steals, to go along with 11 points
• Omarion Jett (Montclair, N.J./Saint Benedict's Prep (American International College)) also had six assists, to go along with 13 points
• RJ Delahaye (Newburgh, N.Y./The Storm King School (Franklin Pierce University)) and Elijah Hernandez (Bronx, N.Y./Our Savior Lutheran (Westchester CC)), who made his HFU debut, made it five Tigers in double-figures as they finished with 14 and 11 points, respectively, with Hernandez adding a game-high two blocks
• Karrington Wallace (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Wood (Central Connecticut State University)) led the Tigers with six rebounds in 13 minutes, while CJ Mundell (Somerdale, N.J./Sterling) matched Gardler with three swipes 
• Also making their HFU debut on the night were Raphael Dupouy (Bordeaux, France/Central Pointe Christian Academy (Yavapai College)), Di'Andre Howell-South (Paterson, N.J./Immaculate Conception (Wagner College)) and AJ Cortes (Miami, Fla./Miami)

 
Inside the Box Score

• The Tigers held significant edges in 3-pointers (14-2), assists (23-5), steals (13-4), bench points (40-14) and fastbreak points (18-8)

 
How it Happened

• Mercy led just twice, at 11-13 and 14-15 less than eight minutes into the action
• A Jason Shields (Scranton, Pa./Scranton (Thomas Jefferson University)) 3-pointer to make the score 20-17 midway through the first put HFU ahead for good, sparking a 13-2 run that finished when a Mundell 3-pointer – his eighth point in the stretch – established the first double-digit advantage, 30-19, with 7:19 showing
• The Mavericks pulled within eight twice, but Holy Family had an answer each time and a Hernandez 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Tigers their largest first half lead, 49-34, entering the locker room 
• Mercy cut the deficit to single digits five three times in the second half, finally making it a two-possession game, 90-84, with 1:24 left, only for Howell-South immediately come done the court and convert a three-point play

 
Up Next
Holy Family returns to Jefferson tomorrow to take on AIC at 2 p.m.