Down to the Wire; St. Joseph's Defeats NYU-Poly

Patchogue, NY -  Coming off Monday night's upset win over Yeshiva University, the NYU-Poly men's basketball team hoped to ride that wave into Patchogue, as they faced the 3rd place team in the Skyline Conference, St. Joseph's (LI) College.  The Jays were given every opportunity to win the game by the foul happy Golden Eagles, but shot a dismal 2-for-6 from the free thow line in the final 14 seconds. St. Joseph's held on for the 64-63 Skyline Conference win.

Junior Anthony Mottola (Brooklyn, NY) connected on a jump shot with 58 seconds to cut the Golden Eagle lead to 64-61. A pair of missed free throws by St. Joseph's set up the exciting final seconds. With 14 ticks left sophomore Alexander Westphal (Port Washington, WI) was fouled and went to the line, where he made the front end, but missed the second. Junior Jason Buckner (Littleton, CO) pulled down one of his team-high seven rebounds and dished the ball to Mottola.

Mottola was fouled and went to the line, making the first, but missing the second. Again, the Jays snagged the rebound as Westphal grabbed the ball and kicked it out to freshmen Myles Hinchcliffe (Flower Mound, TX). Hinchcliffe was fouled on the play and went to the line, with just five seconds remaining and the Jays down by on, 64-63. But, Hinchcliffe missed both and the Golden Eagles grabbed the ball as time expired.

The Jays were led by Buckner with a game-high 18 points. Hinchcliffe added nine, including 2-for-3 from downtown and four steals. St. Joseph's (10-7, 9-3 Skyline) was led by Shahab Syed who netted 16 points and nine boards.

NYU-Poly (4-13, 2-10 Skyline) will travel to Sage College on Saturday for a 3:00 pm contest with the Gators. NYU-Poly defeated Sage, 84-78, in the two teams first meeting earlier this season in Brooklyn.