NEWBURGH, N.Y. – A fierce Skyline Conference rivalry continued on Saturday, as the Mount Saint Mary College men's basketball team faced off with Farmingdale State College at the Kaplan Center for the first time this season. The Knights (3-8, 2-2 Skyline) fought hard to pick up a 68-64 victory over the Rams (2-10, 0-5 Skyline) for their second conference win of the year.
It was all Knights in the opening minutes of the game, as they ran out to a 13-4 lead by the 16:27 mark. A three by Farmingdale State's Justin Bailey turned things around, as the Rams then went on an 11-2 run to tie the game at 15 apiece. Though the Rams tied the game four times after this point, they finally took their first lead of the game on another Bailey three with 57 seconds remaining in the opening half. Junior forward
Jason Oder (Levittown, N.Y.) did not allow that to last very long, as he floated a perfect three into the net to give the Knights a 31-29 lead with 30 seconds left. They held their guests off the board in their final possession to take that two-point advantage into the locker room.
The Knights opened the second half playing very sound basketball, but the Rams hung in there with them, not allowing the home team to run away with it. After the Mount's lead fell to 39-38 with 15:12 remaining, the Knights went on a 12-4 stretch to open their lead up to nine points. The lead improved to 10 at 61-51 with 5:17 to go, but the Knights still could not put the Rams away.
A five-point stretch for the Rams with just under two minutes remaining got them back within three before sophomore guard
Connor Nicholson (Staten Island, N.Y.) made one-of-two free throws to put the Knights back up by four with 19 ticks left. Farmingdale's Trey Kinard then heaved up a heavily contested three, and somehow made it fall to put the Rams back within one with just nine seconds on the clock.
The Knights barely managed to inbound the ball before freshman guard
Daniel Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) was fouled and sent to the line with just over six second remaining. He sank both of his chances to put the Knights back up by three. The Knights then chose to foul Farmingdale's Jarred Marrow, which was sophomore forward
Alex Smith's fifth foul, disqualifying him from the game for the final seconds. Marrow missed his first chance, forcing him to have to purposely miss his second. Freshman forward
Gerard Nocera (Holmdel, N.J.) grabbed the ball with 0.3 on the clock after the ball was knocked high into the air after the missed foul shot. Nocera was fouled instantly, and sent to the line where he made one-of-two free throws to put the Knights up by four and eradicate any chance the Rams had at a miracle.
Nocera finished up with a team-high 19 points to lead the Knights, adding four rebounds and a steal. Wolff tallied 15 points and tied for the team lead with Smith with seven rebounds. Freshman guard
Tyler McDine (Suffern, N.Y.) contributed a game-high five assists to go along with eight points, three boards and two steals. Oder came off the bench to score nine points and grab three rebounds.
Bailey led all scorers with 20 points on the afternoon, but was the only Ram to score in double digits. Ruben Terrero pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, while contributing eight points and a Ram-high three assists.
Neither team shot particularly well in Saturday's affair, but the Knights edged out their opponents with a 39.7 percent (23-of-58) field-goal percentage, while holding the Rams to 38.5 percent (25-of-65) shooting. Farmingdale State held a 41-37 edge in rebounds, including a 16-10 advantage in offensive boards. The Knights took advantage of 16 Ram turnovers to the tune of 18 points.
The Knights will get Sunday off before returning to action Monday evening, when they host Sarah Lawrence College at the Kaplan Center in the first-ever Skyline Conference meeting between the two programs. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Follow the Knights on Twitter at
@MSMCKnights
