Moore Drops 25 in Men’s Basketball’s 73-70 loss to Purchase

Written by Andrew Capitelli (SJC-LI Sports Information)

Purchase, NY| Despite a career and game-high 25 points (9-14 FG) from junior Isaiah Moore, the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) men's basketball team dropped a tight 73-70 decision on the road to SUNY Purchase on Saturday afternoon.

The loss sends the Golden Eagles to 3-11 on the season and 2-4 in Skyline Conference play as the Panthers improve to 10-4 overall (4-2 Skyline).

Moore was one of four SJC players to finish in double-digit scoring and was joined by freshman Frank Basile (16 points), senior Andy Laurent (12 points) and freshman Joe Santoro (11 points).

Purchase was paced by Deshawn Cann who posted 20 points on 9-12 shooting from the field.

Much of the early going favored the Panthers, who jumped out to a 29-21 lead at the halfway mark of the first half. They'd go on to expand that lead to 12 points (48-36) at 1:11 before taking a 14-point edge (52-38) into the break.

Down 61-49 with 11:39 to play in regulation the Golden Eagles began to mount their comeback and, beginning with Mike Harris three-ball at 10:56), sparked a 15-4 run that brought them back to within one point (65-64) at 5:13.

With 49 seconds to play Basile's converted layup cut the deficit to two (70-68), but Kewan Beebe's three-pointer 23 seconds later put the hosts up five (73-68) and rendered Santoro's layup with 20 seconds to play insignificant as Purchase held on for the 73-70 victory.

Despite shooting better from the charity stripe (66.7%-42.9%) the Golden Eagles struggled from the floor, shooting 45.0% compared to Purchase's 50.9%.

Both teams received clutch scoring from the bench with SJC generating 30 points and the Panthers 26.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Tuesday, January 17 when they head to Kings Point, NY to face the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in a Skyline Conference contest at 7:00 PM. Live video and stats will be available here.