Men's Basketball Outpaced by Old Westbury in Skyline Opener

Written by Nick Esposito (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Old Westbury, NY| The St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's basketball surrendered its first Skyline Conference match of the season, falling to the Old Westbury Panthers, 76-64, on Tuesday night. With the loss, the Golden Eagles drop to 1-4 (0-1 Skyline) on the season and the Panthers improve to 1-2 (1-0 Skyline).

After a sensational 41-point performance in the Golden Eagle's previous match, junior guard Andy Laurent (Amityville, N.Y./ Amityville) added another impressive performance against the Panthers, leading St. Joseph's scorers with 24 points on 7-for-15 shooting, while adding a team-high five assists.

Laurent got the game rolling for the Golden Eagles, scoring 10 of SJC's first 12 points to lock the game at a tie.  

With 3:32 remaining in the first half, Old Westbury looked to pull away after scoring a three pointer followed by two made free throws to go up 32-23. However, the Golden Eagles rallied off of back-to-back scores from Laurent trailed by a clutch play from forward Dominique Spann. With two seconds remaining in the half, Spann drove to the basket, drew contact and connected on two free throws to cut the deficit to 32-28 heading into intermission.

Coming out of halftime, Laurent continued to be locked in from deep, scoring three consecutive three balls, while teammate Fernando Vazquez (Babylon, N.Y./ Babylon) followed suit adding another three pointer. Vazquez had strong a second half, scoring 14 points, but it wasn't enough as Old Westbury's shooting consistency from the field outpaced the Golden Eagles (42%-35%). 

At 2:23, Old Westbury's Jamail Stanley connected on a dunk to lift the Panthers to their largest lead of the night (70-54) and eventually pulled away with the victory.

On the night, the Golden Eagles fell short protecting the glass, as the Panthers collected 56 boards to St. Joseph's 29.

St. Joseph's College will look to rebound in its next match when they face-off in a non-conference game against the City College of New York this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in the Danzi Athletic Center. Live stats available here.