Farmingdale State - 73, Sarah Lawrence - 70
Bronxville, N.Y. - In a Skyline Conference road game last night, senior guards Matthew Graham (Valley Stream, N.Y.) and Ali Mableton (Brentwood, N.Y.) scored 23 and 20 points, respectively, to lead the Farmingdale State men's basketball team to a 73-70 victory over Sarah Lawrence. Graham went 15-for-15 from the free-throw line and set a school record for the most made free-throws in one game at FSC. With the win, the Rams improved to 13-7 overall and 11-4 in the conference, while the Gryphons fell to 12-9, 10-6.
Tied at 11-11 midway through the first half, the Rams used a layup from senior forward George Riefenstahl (Bayport, N.Y.), two free-throws by Graham and a three-point play from junior forward Andrew Ballou (Staten Island, N.Y.) to take a seven-point advantage, 18-11.
SLC would quickly respond with a 9-0 run, which saw three layups by junior forward BJ Sanders (Silver Spring, Md.), to go in front 20-18 with 8:16 left in the half.
Tied at 23-23 with 5:02 on the clock, Graham tallied seven straight points to put Farmingdale State ahead, 30-23.
The Gryphons outscored FSC, 9-2, over the remainder of the half as the game went into the break knotted at 32-32.
With the Rams ahead by one, 45-44, just 5:24 into the second half, Sarah Lawrence went on a 16-5 run to take a 10-point lead, 60-50.
Farmingdale State trailed by nine, 63-54, with 7:07 left and used back-to-back Riefenstahl jumpers to cut the deficit to five at 63-58.
Down 68-64 with 3:48 remaining, the Rams tied the game with a Graham jump shot and a Mableton layup. After SLC freshman guard Omar Jamaleddine (Middle Village, N.Y.) hit a pair of free-throws to go up 70-68, Graham was fouled on a 3-point attempt and knocked down all three shots at the line to go ahead by one, 71-70.
With 25 seconds left in the game, Farmingdale State was able to force a Gryphons miss and grab the rebound. Graham was fouled with 19 seconds remaining and would tally both free-throws to put FSC up 73-70.
The Rams were able to stop Sarah Lawrence on their final shot attempt as they held on for the Skyline win, 73-70.
Along with his 23 points, Graham recorded six rebounds, four assists, four steals and one block, while Mableton shot 9-for-15 from the field en route to his 20 points.
Sarah Lawrence was led by Jamaleddine's team-high 21 points and 15 rebounds.
FSC next travels to Mount Saint Mary College for a conference game on Saturday, February 2nd at 3:00 p.m.
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