Farmingdale State - 61, The Sage Colleges - 57
Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State men's basketball team knocked off Sage College today with a 61-57 conference victory. The Gators stood in a tie for first place in the Skyline last week, but now drop to 12-4, 6-3, while the Rams improve to 4-12, 2-7 in the conference with the win.
With Sage holding a 24-17 advantage with six minutes left in the first half, Farmingdale State used an 8-1 run to tie the game at 25-25 with 3:24 on the clock. Layups from freshman guard Trey Kinard (Deer Park, N.Y.) and sophomore forward Weldon Irvine (Queens, N.Y.) closed out the half with the Rams ahead, 29-25. Farmingdale scored 26 of their 29 first half points in the paint.
In the second half, the Rams pushed the lead to 43-30 over the first few minutes and led 53-43 with 6:07 remaining in regulation. A final run by the Gators over the next five minutes would be capped off by two free throws by senior forward Kai Deans (Miami, Fla.), cutting the deficit to two points, 57-55 with 1:45 left. A missed three-pointer by Sage sent Farmingdale's Kinard down the court for a fast break lay-up and a four-point Rams lead, 59-55.
The Gators missed two more shots from long range, while a foul to stop the clock at 19 seconds sent Kinard to the line for two free throws and a 61-55 lead. A Rams foul with 0.5 seconds remaining gave the Gators two final shots, but Farmingdale took the 61-57 victory.
Irvine led the Rams with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Kinard finished with 16 points. Junior guard Ruben Terrero (Brentwood, N.Y.) tallied five assists and seven boards.
For Sage, Deans scored a game-high 19 points, while junior forward Melvin Ford (Voorhees, N.J.) pulled down 16 rebounds and junior guard Jorrdan McCray (Orlando, Fla.) contributed 13 points.
Farmingdale State will now travel to face St. Joseph's (L.I.) in another conference game on Wednesday, January 28th at 7:00 p.m.
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