Men’s Basketball Edged by Farmingdale in Wednesday Night Thriller

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| Despite leading by as much as 11 points the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's basketball team dropped a 73-71 thriller to Skyline Conference rival Farmingdale State College inside the Danzi Center on Wednesday evening.

With the loss the Golden Eagles fall to 3-10 on the year and 3-2 in conference play as the Rams improve to 8-5 and sit atop the South Division standings with a 5-0 Skyline mark.

SJC scored four players in double digits and were led by senior Fernando Vazquez who tallied a game-high 19 points on 6-11 shooting from the field.

Fellow senior Andy Laurent and freshman Frank Basile (6-9 FG) contributed 17 points apiece--a season-high total for the latter--while junior Isaiah Moore went for 12 points.

Farmingdale was paced by Ali Mableton who shot 6-10 from the field and collected a team-best 16 points.

A furious start by the Golden Eagles saw them pull ahead 11-0 3:36 into the contest, but the guests slowly chipped away at the SJC lead before tying the game pulling ahead (29-28) when George Riefenstahl sunk a pair free throws with 6:17 left in the half.

A 12-6 SJC run to end the period saw the hosts take a 40-35 lead into the break, yet it was Farmingdale that came out sharper in the second and compiled an 8-0 run to go ahead 43-40 3:45 into the frame.

The sides went point-for-point over the next six minutes but a Vazquez tip in at 9:57 knotted the score up at 49. Less than a minute later a pair of converted free throws from Laurent saw SJC go up 51-49.

Laurent would later hit a three with 1:12 remaining in regulation to tie the game up at 68, but Mableton responded with a layup second later to put the Rams back in front. The guests would then hold on to the lead and earned the narrow 73-71 victory.

SJC outshot the Rams from the field (38.5%-37.9%) and from three (31.8%-31.3%) but was edged at the charity stripe (75.0%-70.0%).

A back and forth affair, the game yielded 13 lead changes and saw the score tied on eight different occasions.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday, January 14 when they head to Purchase, NY to face SUNY Purchase in a Skyline Conference showdown at 12:00 PM. Live stats for the match will be available here.