Panthers Pounce on Eagles in Second Half

Patchogue, N.Y.—The St. Joseph's Golden Eagles (5-14, SKY 3-9) fell to the Purchase Panthers (14-4, SKY 8-4) in Tuesday night's home game, 78-95.  Jordan Kowalski (North Babylon, N.Y./Abilene) led the team in points with 26 while Keith Anderson (Central Islip, N.Y./ North Babylon) was close behind, sinking 21 of his own.

SJC started out strong, taking an early lead and keeping the Panthers offense in check.  Purchase bounced back from the early hit, tying the game at 16 and then again at 27.  The two seemingly well matched teams battled back and forth until the final seconds of the first half; Anderson's made lay-up with two minutes left gave the Eagles the advantage, but a last minute rally by the Panthers left St. Joseph's trailing at the half, 34-31.

The Panthers maintained their minor lead into the second half while the Eagles stayed in the game with consecutive three-pointers from both Evan Mohammad (Bayside, N.Y./ Holy Cross) and Cody Lohsen (Centereach, N.Y./ Centereach).  SJC gained the lead for the first time in the second half at 14:13 with another three-point jumper from Mohammad. 

The Panthers kicked it into gear for the final ten minutes of the game, overcoming the SJC defense and establishing a 15-point lead with 4:57 left on the clock.  Ultimately, it was this lead that cinched the Purchase victory as the Golden Eagles couldn't muster up a comeback in the final moments of the game.

Despite the loss, St. Joseph's stats were admirable.  In addition to Kowalski's game high 26 points, he also grabbed 10 rebounds and had four blocks.  Anderson's 21 points were complimented by eight rebounds.  Evan Mohammad finished with 15 points, 12 of which came on three-point shots.  As a team, the Golden Eagles shot 40% from the field and 66.7% from the foul line.

The Golden Eagles will travel on Thursday to take on the Yeshiva Maccabees in a Skyline Conference game, before returning home on Saturday to face another Skyline-foe, NYU-Polytechnic, at 5:15 p.m.