Men’s Basketball Tops Sarah Lawrence for First Skyline Win

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Patchogue, NY| Junior Andy Laurent scored 32 points on 11-16 shooting to power the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's basketball team to an 84-71 victory over Sarah Lawrence College on Wednesday evening inside the Danzi Center. The Golden Eagles earn their first conference win of the season and now sit at 2-5 (1-1) while the Gryphons fall to 2-3 (0-2).

Tied at seven early on in the first half, Laurent drained a three-pointer to put the hosts up 10-7 at 16:22. Later, up 15-133, the guard followed up another three pointer with a layup at 11:13 to extend the Golden Eagles' lead to seven points (20-13).

Forward Billy Heenan's at free throw at 8:41 gave St. Joseph's its largest lead of the first half (24-15), but the Gryphons answered with 17 of the half's final 28 points to cut the deficit to three points (35-32) at the break.

Laurent scored four of the second half's first six points off layups early in the frame to reestablish the Golden Eagles nine-point lead (41-32) at 18:24. A 9-4 run by the guests brought Sarah Lawrence to within one point (45-44) at 15:16, and later, at 8:21, Graham Gilleran's jumper tied the game at 55. Laurent would go on to score six of the next eight—all off of free throws—to again distance the Golden Eagles from the opposition at 6:07 (64-55).

From there out the Gryphons failed to come any closer than nine points away from the Golden Eagles as St. Joseph's cruised to its first conference win of the season.

In addition to shooting 11-16 from the field, Laurent shot 3-6 from three and added five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Starters Stephen Cohen (10 points), Dominique Spann (13 points), Isaiah Moore (11 points) and Fernando Vazquez (14 points) all reached double-digit scoring as well.

St. Joseph's 52% shooting was its highest percentage of the season, and the Golden Eagles also held edges in points-off-turnovers (25-21) and fastbreak points (12-2). The Gryphons were the better scoring team in the paint (40-28) and tallied more second-chance points (13-6).

The Golden Eagles return to action on Tuesday, December 8 when they welcome St. Joseph's-Brooklyn to the Danzi Center for an 8:00 PM tip-off. The women will face their SJC-Brooklyn counterparts at 6:00 PM in the first half of the doubleheader. Live stats for both matches will be available at sjcgoldeneagles.com.