Follow us on TWITTER      Get social with the Panthers on FACEBOOK

BOX SCORE

OLD WESTBURY, NY (www.oldwestburypanthers.com) – The SUNY College at Old Westbury men's basketball team opened the season on Sunday afternoon with an 83-81 loss to the visiting NYU Bobcats at the Clark Athletic Center. The Panthers had four players score in double figures, but it was not enough against the Bobcats as Old Westbury fell to 0-1 on the season while NYU improved to 3-0.

The Panthers were led by Lester Prosper, who combined 19 points and 11 rebounds (game-high) to register his 25th career double-double. Prosper added three blocks and Andre Martin went for 14 points (6-of-9 FG), two blocks and two steals. Jason Kondra fell one point shy of matching his career-high and finished with 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field. Craig Wilson made his OW debut and recorded 13 points (3-of-4 3FG) and a game-high eight assists. Jefferson Guillaume chipped in with eight points and five offensive rebounds off the bench.

The Bobcats leading scorer was Richie Polan with 24 points and he was also their leading rebounder with 10 pull-downs to notch his third double-double of the season. Carl Yaffe (13 points), Kyle Stockmal (12 points), Andy Stein (12 points) and D.J. Glavan (10 points) registered double-digit points for NYU.

The Bobcats took an early lead at 15-10 less than six minutes into the game. The Panthers were able to respond with a 17-10 run to take a 27-25 lead with 9:24 left in the first half. NYU countered by outscoring OW 20-16 to close out the half, taking a 45-41 lead in to the locker room.

OW got off to a poor start in the second-half, shooting 1-of-10 from the field as NYU increased their lead to 52-43 with 14:43 left on the clock. Back-to-back layups by NYU's Richie Polan and Andy Stein gave the Bobcats their largest lead of 13 (58-45) at the 12:03 mark. Old Westbury responded with a 22-11 run (10 points by Andre Martin) to close the gap to 69-67 with 4:15 remaining. NYU scored six straight points to increase their lead back up to eight (75-67). Jason Kondra drained a jumper with 17 seconds left and Richie Polan answered by hitting 1-of-2 from the line and dropping in a layup with two seconds left to put NYU up 83-78. OW's Craig Wilson connected on his third triple of the game to cut the deficit to 83-81, but wasn't enough to overtake NYU.

Old Westbury shot 47.2 percent (34-of-72) from the floor and were 31.3 percent (5-of-16) from three. From the free-throw line, the Panthers were 100 percent (8-of-8). NYU was 48.3 percent (29-of-60) overall and were 31.6 percent (6-of-19) from behind the arc. They were 82.6 percent (19-of-23) from the line. NYU had a 38-30 lead on the boards and were pressured in to 14 turnovers resulting in 16 points for OW. NYU's bench outscored OW's, 34-14.

YESHIVA MACCABEES UP NEXT FOR THE PANTHERS: Old Westbury returns to the court on Tuesday (Nov. 30), taking on the Yeshiva Maccabees in their Skyline Conference opener at the Clark Athletic Center. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. in Old Westbury, New York

For the latest news on the Panthers, log on to www.oldwestburypanthers.com – the official site for Old Westbury athletics. Also, become a follower of the Panthers on Twitter (OWZONE) and Facebook (Old Westbury Panthers).