Box Score
Skyline Conference Championship Central
PURCHASE, NY (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) -The SUNY College at Old Westbury men's basketball team saw its run at a Skyline Conference Championship end in the semifinal round Thursday evening after falling 88-73 to the top-seeded Purchase Panthers in Purchase, New York. Old Westbury now stands at 15-12 and will now wait on a possible ECAC bid for the metro region tournament March 5, 8-9. Purchase (24-2), the defending conference champion, advances to the finals for the fifth straight season and will host the second-seeded Mount Saint Mary Knights at home on Saturday.
Old Westbury's offense got off to a slow start, opening the game shooting just 1-for-15 from the floor as Purchase knocked down 9-of-21 to lead 30-4 with 6:06 remaining. During the Purchase run that included a 13-0 spurt, Old Westbury was held scoreless for 7:13. Old Westbury also ran into plenty of foul trouble in the opening half, committing 12 fouls which allowed Purchase to shoot 12-of-17 from the free throw line. Trailing by a game-high 26 points, Old Westbury used a 9-2 run to make it a 32-13 game with 3:54 showing on the clock. Purchase closed out the final 2:39 by outscoring Old Westbury 8-4 to take a 40-17 advantage into the break.
In a more evenly played second half, Old Westbury chipped away throughout the final 20 minutes, closing the gap to 12 points with an 11-1 to make it an 83-71 game with 58 seconds left. Old Westbury held a 56-48 scoring edge in the second half and in the end, Purchase's first half lead proved to be too much to overcome.
Mark Gjonlekaj produced a game-high 22 points (9-12 FT) to pace Old Westbury.
Floyd Leroy followed with 18 points (8-14 FG) and six rebounds while
Omari Trebuse chipped in with 16 points.
Andrew Andries contributed 10 rebounds and
Dom Bostick added seven points and seven rebounds.
Nat Vaughan nabbed a team-best two steals off the bench.
Joel Neri and Andre Nixon each scored 21 points to lead Purchase while David Haughton tallied 14 points and 26 rebounds.
Old Westbury shot 34.8 percent from the field (24-69), 24.2 percent from three point territory (8-33) and 68 percent from the free throw line (17-25) as Purchase connected on 37.1 percent from the floor (26-70), 42.9 percent from beyond the arc (6-14) and 66.7 percent from the charity stripe (30-45). Purchase won the boards battle with a 59-40 rebounding edge, scoring 25 second chance points off 22 offensive rebounds. The 59 rebounds tied a season-high for an opponent against Old Westbury. Old Westbury committed a season-high 29 fouls, which allowed a season-high 30 made free throws and 45 attempts against them.
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