St. Joseph's Hands No. 16 Purchase their First Skyline Loss of Season

Patchogue, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's Golden Eagles (9-16, 8-10 Skyline) took down the No. 16 nationally ranked Purchase Panthers (23-2, 17-1 Skyline), 65-61, on Saturday afternoon.  The first place Panthers had gone the entire season without a Skyline Conference loss - and only one loss in total all year.

St. Joseph's has certainly saved their best for last as they upset third place Farmingdale State on Wednesday night to clinch the final spot in next week's Skyline Conference Tournament.  They will play the Rams in the #3-#6 quarterfinal game at Farmingdale at 8:00 p.m.

SJC was led with clutch baskets down the stretch by freshman guard Andy Laurent (Amityville, N.Y./Amityville), who led the squad with 22 points.  Junior guard Sean McCarthy (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) also had a big game with 13 points and eight rebounds in the victory.

The Eagles got off to a great start defensively, forcing turnovers on three of the first five Panthers' possessions, but the Panthers jumped out to a 10-5 lead and the Eagles responded with a three-pointer by Laurent and a deep three by McCarthy to give them a one-point lead with 12 minutes remaining in the first half.

SJC rallied behind the crowd's "defense" chants as they continued to deny the Panthers an easy basket and capitalized on the offensive end with fast break points by Nick Gallina (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem North) and Julius Jackson (Wyandanch, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) for a 15-12 advantage with five minutes left in the half.  

Both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net, shooting less than 31% from the field. The Panthers went 0-8 from beyond the arc in the half and were just 23% from the field but the Golden Eagles defense deserves the credit for the Panthers poor offensive half as every shot was highly contested, allowing few second chance points and denying the lane on nearly every possession. The Eagles led by three with 35 seconds remaining when Jordan Kowalski (North Babylon, N.Y./Abilene) drilled a three, then drew a charge on the defensive end to close out the half with the Eagles leading 20-14.

Just as the Eagles suspected, this undefeated Purchase team was not going to be shutdown offensively for 40 minutes. The Panthers began the half on an 8-0 run, taking a 25-24 lead but the Laurent answered right back with a three that brought the crowd to its feet and put the Eagles back in front.

The Panthers quickly went on a 10-4 run that gave them a 35-31 lead with just 13 minutes remaining but the Eagles leading scorer this season, Darryl Charles (Middletown, N.Y./Poughkeepsie), responded with a strong finish against a double-team on the inside to put the Eagles down two. After a defensive stand by the Golden Eagles defense, Laurent hit a layup and completed the "and-1" to give the Eagles their first lead since the 19 minute mark of the second half. Charles continued to work in the paint, drawing a foul and converting both free throws.

Laurent hit a pair of free throws after the Panthers bench was issued a technical foul and the Eagles led 40-35 with 11 minutes left in the game.  Purchase then scored eight unanswered points on the next three possessions including two straight three's, forcing SJC to call a timeout with eight minutes remaining. The two teams traded turnovers on four consecutive possessions before Laurent threw a long pass to Kowalski, who hit the lay-up giving the Eagles the lead once again.

SJC got a stop on the defensive end and McCarthy hit a deep three-pointer to extend the lead to four but Purchase battled back and trailed by just one with five minutes left. Kowalski sent the crowd into hysteria with a contested three-pointer to extend the lead once again. Purchase split a pair of free throws and Laurent responded with a fade-away jumper that gave the Eagles a 54-48 lead with three minutes left.

The stellar Golden Eagles defense got another stop and Laurent, who could smell victory against the No. 16 ranked team in the nation, measured up his defender and drilled a three-pointer right over his outstretched arm to put SJC up nine, their largest lead of the day but this resilient Panthers team answered back with two straight baskets, cutting the deficit down to five.

Laurent continued to hit clutch shots, this time it was two free-throws with just under a minute left in the game but Purchase once again had a quick answer to cut the lead down to five with 52.3 seconds remaining as the Panthers called a timeout. Purchase cut the deficit down to three with 28 seconds remaining and trapped the Eagles in the backcourt but McCarthy broke free, feeding Charles for a layup to put SJC back up five but the Panthers weren't ready to lose their first Skyline game of the season as they hit a three-pointer, cutting the lead down to two with just 12.5 seconds remaining. A reach-in foul sent Laurent to the line with 9.5 seconds left and the freshman converted both free-throws sealing the victory for the Golden Eagles against the first place Panthers as both teams are headed for the playoffs.

The Panthers were led by David Haughton with 14 points and 18 boards.  Jake Stevens III added 12 for the visitors.  Purchase is the top seed heading into next week's Skyline Tournament and have already earned a first round bye into the semifinals.

Before the contest, the Eagles honored their two senior players, Cody Lohsen and Phil Claixte, for their outstanding contributons to the men's basketball program.