VALHALLA, N.Y. (Dec. 14, 2016) - On Wednesday night, the LIU Post men's basketball team came back from an eight-point halftime deficit to beat East Coast Conference foe Mercy College, 62-53, at Westchester Community College in Valhalla.

Down 25-17 at the break, the Pioneers (3-7, 2-1 ECC) opened the latter half on a 20-5 run to grab a 37-30 lead at the 12:10 mark. The green and gold had three different players net treys in the burst. Junior guard Kyle McLeggan (Jersey City, N.J.) capped it off with a jumper.

Though Mercy (2-9, 0-3 ECC) subsequently rallied to even the game at 41-all, LIU Post fired right back with a 7-0 spurt to re-gain the lead (48-41) with 7:12 left. Freshman forward Hall Elisias (Valley Stream, N.Y.) buried the go-ahead basket in the run. McLeggan added a three-point play, while senior forward Greg Dotson (Abington, Pa.) put down a transition dunk.

The Mavericks nearly re-tied the score again in the final minutes, as a William Robinson (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) jumper closed the gap to 50-48 at the 2:55 mark.

However, a Jared Hall (South Orange, N.J.) basket on the ensuing possession kept the Pioneers in front for good.

Hall scored a team-high 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. He also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out seven assists. McLeggan earned 13 points and five rebounds in 31 minutes off the bench. Elisias recorded his first collegiate double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds). Dotson and senior guard Jemal Mosley (Nanuet, N.Y.) both had seven points and seven rebounds.

For the contest, LIU Post shot 41.8 percent (23-of-55) from the floor. That clip included a dazzling .654 (17-of-26) field-goal percentage in the second half of play.

Head Coach Erik Smiles and the Pioneers are back in action Saturday (Dec. 17), when they host ECC rival New York Institute of Technology at 4 p.m. at the Pratt Recreation Center in Brookville.