#6 St. Joseph's-Brooklyn - 78, #3 Farmingdale State - 75
Farmingdale, N.Y. - In the First Round of the Skyline Conference Men's Basketball Championship this evening, third-seeded Farmingdale State fell, 78-75, to #6 St. Joseph's-Brooklyn.
The Rams (14-12) held an early 9-8 lead with 14:08 remaining and used a 7-0 run over the next 2:02 to extend the advantage to 16-8. After a George Riefenstahl (Bayport, N.Y.) dunk put the Rams up 10, St. Joe's-Brooklyn's (14-12) Michael Murray (Glendale, N.Y.) connected on back-to-back jump shots to cut the deficit to 22-16 with 8:33 left in the first half.
With 1:57 left in the half and the Bears down 32-25, St. Joe's-Brooklyn scored six straight points to close within one, 32-31. The Rams took a 35-33 lead into halftime as sophomore guard Trey Kinard (Deer Park, N.Y.) scored a team-high 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
Farmingdale State opened the second half on a 13-3 run over the first 3:39 to take their largest lead of the game at 48-36. The Bears quickly answered with a Jamir Archer (Staten Island, N.Y.) layup and back-to-back 3's by Matt O'Neill (Brooklyn, N.Y.) to cut the deficit to 48-44.
St. Joe's-Brooklyn trailed 52-46 with 11:28 remaining and hit three straight 3-pointers to take a three-point lead at 55-52. On FSC's next possession, freshman guard Matthew Graham (Valley Stream, N.Y.) hit a 3 to tie the game at 55-55.
Trailing 62-57, Farmingdale State sophomore guard Liam Monaghan (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) hit a 3 and followed with a layup to even the score at 62-62 with 6:07 left to play.
With 3:16 remaining and the Rams down five, junior forward Weldon Irvine (Queens, N.Y.) hit a layup and Monaghan was 2-for-2 at the line on their next possession to cut the deficit to one, 72-71.
Farmingdale State regained the lead at 73-72 after Irvine converted a layup with 1:13 left to play. The Bears scored on each of their next two possessions to open up a 76-73 advantage with 21 seconds on the clock.
After each team hit a pair of free-throws, FSC missed the game-tying 3-pointer with three seconds remaining and fell, 78-75.
Kinloch scored a team-high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while Graham finished with 14 points. Irvine was a pefrect 6-of-6 from the floor, scoring 13 points, including seven in the final four minutes of the game.
The Bears were led by senior forward Michael Megafu (Jamaica, N.Y.) who recorded a game-high 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
St. Joe's-Brooklyn will now travel to #2 Sage for the Skyline Conference Semifinals on Thursday.
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