#4 Farmingdale State - 80, #5 The Sage Colleges - 65
Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State men's basketball team earned an 80-65 victory over The Sage Colleges in the quarterfinals of the Skyline Conference playoffs this evening in Farmingdale, N.Y. The Rams advanced to the semifinals and will travel to top-seeded Old Westbury.
Tied 13-13 midway through the first half, Farmingdale State (19-7) hit four consecutive 3-pointers followed by a Curtis Williams (Stony Brook, N.Y.) layup to put the Rams ahead 27-13. After a Sage jumper, a pair of Williams layups increased Farmingdale State's lead to 16, 31-15, with 5:21 left in the half. The Rams took a 36-23 advantage into the halftime break.
Farmingdale State increased their lead to 57-38 with 9:38 left to play, before an 11-1 Gators (13-13) run cut the deficit to 58-49. The Rams answered with a 10-2 run to open up a 68-51 advantage with 4:22 remaining in the game. Farmingdale State held a double-digit lead the rest of the way and picked up an 80-65 win in the quarterfinals.
Senior forward AJ Matthews (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led all scorers with 20 points and 14 rebounds, while freshman guard Wilson Molina (Woodside, N.Y.) added 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting and five assists. Williams scored 12 points and grabbed seven boards and senior guard Ryan Davis (Flushing, N.Y.) pitched in with 11 points and four assists for the Rams.
Senior guard Jeff Stopera (Scotia, N.Y.) and freshman forward Melvin Ford (Voorhees, N.J.) each scored 16 points for Sage.
The Rams will travel to #1 Old Westbury on Thursday, February 21st at a time to be determined.
*****