Albany, NY – A 40-point effort from the Panthers' Brett Richards was enough for the Albany College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences to hand CMCC men's basketball its first loss of Yankee Small College Conference play on Saturday in New York, 85-79. The Mustangs had five players reach double figures in scoring including a double-double from J.T. Pound in the defeat.

Central Maine took a narrow one-point lead into halftime up 45-44 after the lead changed hands an incredible 14 times through the opening 20 minutes. Khaden Moore had 10 points to lead the Mustangs in the first half and eight different players got on the scoresheet. Senior captain Wyatt Hathaway was a perfect three-for-three from outside to help counter Richards, as the two-time 2^nd-Team All-YSCC selection put up 17 points for ACPHS.

The back-and-forth continued with neither team having more than a five-point lead until eight minutes into the second half when Albany went up 60-53. CMCC came racing back to take a 66-65 lead with 6:33 to play on a layup from Pound.

It was in the home stretch when Richards took over. The 6'5" junior from Kinderhook, NY scored 11 straight points for his team to turn a 69-68 game into an 80-74 lead with 1:11 remaining. The teams traded three-pointers in the final minute before a pair of free throws by Michael Leak put the game out of reach in the dying seconds.

Moore finished the day with a team-high 15 points while E.J. Pemberton (13), Hathaway (11), Pound (11), and Will Duke (10). Pound added 10 rebounds while Duke finished with five assists. Da'Vohn Jonas led the way in that category with the freshman from Kingswood, TX dealing out six helpers. The Mustangs won the rebound battle 31-26 and forced more turnovers as well, but were undone by ACPHS shooting 59.3% from the field (32-of-54) compared to CMCC's mark of 44.8% (30-for-67).

CMCC now sits at 5-8 overall on the season with a 3-1 record in YSCC play. The Mustangs now take a nearly two-week long break for Thanksgiving, with their next game coming against Berkeley College-NY on Friday, December 6^th. They host the Knights in Auburn at 8:00 pm.