Men's Basketball Edged in Skyline Opener at Farmingdale, 66-63

When and Where:

December 7, 2022 - Farmingdale, NY

Records:

St. Joseph's (L.I.), 2-5, 0-1 Skyline, Farmingdale, 6-1, 2-0 Skyline

Results:

The St. Joseph's University (L.I.) men's basketball team started Skyline Conference play with a 66-63 loss at Farmingdale State College on Wednesday evening.

Top performers:

• Junior Spencer Malloy led the Golden Eagles with game-best 14 points and completed the double-double with 11 rebounds and team-best four assists
• Junior Ryan McNeely and graduate Liam Sheehy contributed 13 and 11 points, respectively, off the bench 
• Graduate Matthew Hirdt and junior Xavier Allen turned in 10 points apiece 
• Jevon Santon provided Farmingdale with 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting with seven rebounds and a game-best six assists
• Tre Riggins and Corey Powell added 12 points apiece with Kobe Thomas rounding out the top scorers with 11 points off the bench

How it happened: 

• St. Joseph's scored first and built a nine-point lead, 17-8, through the first eight minutes of play
• The teams would exchange baskets through the middle portion of the half before a McNeely three sparked a 17-3 run to their largest lead of the night, 38-18
• The Rams responded with eight unanswered points in the final minute of the half and went into the break trailing 38-26
• SJLI extended their lead back up to 17, 43-26, courtesy of five points from Hirdt to start the second frame 
• A 13-0 run in favor of Farmingdale capped by a jumper from Powell inched the Rams to within four, 43-39, at the 13:29 mark
• St. Joseph's held the hosts at arm's length until back-to-back Farmingdale buckets knotted the score at 53 with just over six minutes to play
• The Rams took their first advantage of the night at the 4:34 mark following a Thomas jumper in the paint. Minutes later a three from Santos gave FSC their largest lead of the night at 60-55
• SJLI would cut the deficit to just one on two occasions with less than a minute to play, but key free throw shooting from Powell in the final seconds secured the 66-63 FSC wi 

Notes: 

• St. Joseph's shot 38.5% from the field, while Farmingdale finished the game with a 40.3% shooting percentage
• In the second half, the Rams shot 55.2% from the field and limited SJLI to just 26.7% from the floor
• Malloy scored 12 of the Golden Eagles' 38 points in the first half, going 6-for-12 from the field 
• Farmingdale held 22-2 points in the paint advantage over SJLI in the second half 

Next up, the Golden Eagles resume Skyline play when they travel to Yeshiva University to take on the Maccabees on Saturday, December 10 at 8:30 pm.