OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. --- (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) SUNY Old Westbury men's basketball returned to campus Wednesday evening and captured an 80-70 Skyline Conference victory against the St. Joseph's College (L.I.) Golden Eagles (5-5, 0-2 Skyline) inside Clark Athletic Center. The Panthers (6-6, 2-1 Skyline) improve to a 13-3 mark versus St. Joseph's since the 2012-13 campaign.
After a closely contested opening 10:11, Charles Wingate knocked down a three-pointer at the 9:54 mark to ignite a 22-10 run for Old Westbury to claim the 34-25 lead with 2:39 remaining. Frank Basile and Matthew Lavin scored St. Joseph's next four points to make it a five-point game, 34-29 before Pedro Marquez drilled a jumper at 1:13 to send the 36-29 game into the break.
30 seconds into the second-half, Basile connected from deep to kickstart a 12-4 St. Joseph's spurt to claim the narrow one-point lead, 41-40, with 15:17 left. 26 seconds later, Wingate buried a jumper to give the Panthers the lead for good, 42-41. Over next 8:37, St. Joseph's battled to keep the game close before Old Westbury scored nine-unanswered points from 5:28 to 1:47 to build the game-high 12-point cushion (71-59). The Golden Eagles get in as close as six (72-66) with 51 seconds remaining before Marquez and Jonathan Jamieson combined to score Old Westbury's final eight points to settle the 80-70 final.
Wingate finished with 23 points (9-of-14 FG, 3-of-6 3FG), three rebounds, three assists and two steals to lead Old Westbury to victory. With both coming off the bench, Marquez chipped with 22 points (8-of-15 FG, 4-of-4 FT), five rebounds and five assists while
Pierrce Perry added 12 points (5-of-7 FG) and five rebounds.
Justin Alleyne-Washington contributed 11 points (4-of-8 FG), five rebounds, three assists and 2 blocks and Jamieson pulled down 10 rebounds.
Basile led all scorers with 30 points (10-of-23 FG, 6-of-9 FT) to go with nine rebounds to pace St. Joseph's. Doug Niblock followed with 12 points and three steals (game-high) while Jonah Caldwell poured in 10 points (5-of-8 FG) and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds (six offensive).
In the end, Old Westbury shot 55.6 percent (30-of-54) from the field, 33.3 percent (6-of-18) from three-point territory and 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from the free-throw line. By comparison, St. Joseph's connected on 40.6 percent (26-of-64) from the floor, 22.6 percent (7-of-31) from beyond the arc and 61.1 (11-of-18) from the charity stripe. Old Westbury won the boards battle, 39-33, while St. Joseph's scored 16 second-chance points off 12 offensive rebounds. The Panthers outplayed St. Joseph's in assists (16-10), blocks (3-1), bench points (34-10), fastbreak points (22-6) and points in the paint (46-32). The Golden Eagles held the edge in steals (4-3) while scoring eight points off 12 Panther miscues.
UP NEXT:
Old Westbury remain at home Saturday (Jan. 11) for a Skyline Conference showdown against the Farmingdale State College Rams (6-6, 2-1 Skyline) at 2 p.m. inside Clark Athletic Center. The Panthers will enter Saturday's matchup 2-3 at home against the Rams since the 2014-15 season.
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