BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Maritime basketball team was able to escape with a tough Skyline road win over the Bears of St. Joseph's (Bklyn), 74-73, at The Hill Center on Tuesday night. Senior Patrick MacDonald (Buffalo, N.Y./Canisius) scored a layup with 1.2 seconds in regulation to tie the game and hit the free throw to give them the one-point victory.  
 
Sophomore guard Brendan McGovern (Seaford, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) lead all scorers on the night with 23 points including three three-pointers. MacDonald recorded a double-double for the 11th straight game, scoring 19 points and grabbing 21 rebounds. The 21 rebounds were two shy of MacDonald's career-high and the school single-game record of 23. Senior guard John Liccese (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) nearly had a triple-double finishing with 16 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.  
 
The Privateers opened the game connecting on three of their first four shots giving them a 7-4 lead thanks to two layups from MacDonald and one three-pointer from McGovern. McGovern knocked down another three at the 13:53 mark to put Maritime up, 14-9. A few minutes later Josh Raime (Elmont, N.Y./Holy Cross) knocked down a three-pointer to put the Privateers up by nine.
 
St. Joseph's (Bklyn) responded with a quick 8-0 run to make the score 20-19. Throughout the remaining minutes of the first half both teams went back and forth exchanging the lead as St. Joseph's (Bklyn) went into halftime up 35-32.
 
St. Joseph's (Bklyn) lead by as many as seven throughout the opening minutes of the second half. With under 12 minutes left in the game, McGovern scored a fastbreak layup to give Maritime back the lead, 53-52. That sparked an 8-0 run for the Privateers as they extended the lead to nine.
 
With just under five minutes remaining, MacDonald scored a layup to put Maritime up by 12 points, making it their biggest lead of the night. St. Joseph's (Bklyn) answered back with a run of their own. The Bears went on a 15-1 run to go up by two points with 10 seconds left in regulation.
 
After St. Joseph's (Bklyn) missed the second of the two free throws McGovern grabbed the rebound passing to Liccese who took a jumper from the wing, missed but MacDonald was there for the offensive rebound and put back plus the foul. He made the free-throw to seal the win, 74-73, with 1.2 seconds left.
 
Maritime (7-8, 4-7 Skyline) will return to action on this Saturday, January 20th when they host Old Westbury in a Skyline Conference matchup beginning at 1 p.m. at Riesenberg Hall Gym.
 
St. Joseph's (Bklyn) (7-10, 6-6 Skyline) will be back on Sunday, January 21st when they host Merchant Marine starting at 2 p.m. at the The Hill Center.