BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Dec. 2, 2010) – The Maritime men's basketball team defeated conference-opponent NYU-Poly, 84-68, Thursday night at the Blue Jays' Jacobs Gymnasium. Senior Giovanni Hurley (Brooklyn, N.Y./Middle College High) led all players with a season-high 29 points, while picking up six rebounds, six steals and five assists. The Privateers improve to 4-1 overall (2-0 Skyline) with the win and Poly falls to 0-5 (0-3 Skyline).

Hurley now sits just 92 points away from reaching the 1000-point plateau. He looks to become just the ninth Privateer men's basketball player to reach the milestone.

The action was back-and-forth early, as the score was tied five times in the opening 15 minutes of the game. The Blue Jays had their biggest lead of the contest at 15:07 of the first when forward Jason Buckner nailed a jumper to give the home team a 10-5 lead. After Maritime tied the score at 23-23 on a jumper at 4:29 by junior Mike McSloy (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park), senior Quamel Lyerly (Inwood, N.Y./Lawrence) drained a shot over a minute later to give the Privateers the lead for good late in the first half. The Privateers increased the lead to as much as six, but went into the locker room ahead by four, 30-26.

The Privateers opened the second half on an 8-2 run and expanded the lead to 10-points, 38-28, just 1:44 in. A three-point play by Lyerly at 11:30 put Maritime up 15, 59-44. The lead found its way to 20 points after McSloy hit a free throw with 7:39 to play, that was the Privateers largest lead of the night. Poly fought back and scored the next 10 points, forcing Maritime to burn a timeout to stop the momentum. The Privateers held on to the lead and cruised to the victory, never seeing the lead fall below double-digits.

Lyerly ended the game with 20 points and eight rebounds, while junior Sam Porte (Inwood, N.Y./Lawrence) nearly recorded a double-double with 10 points and nine boards. McSloy finished the night with 20 points.

For the Blue Jays, Buckner led the team with 21 points, while guards John Martin and Eddie Johnson scored 20 and 19 points, respectively. Those three players accounted for over 88-percent of NYU-Poly's scoring on the night.

Maritime returns to the court on Saturday, Dec. 4, when the Privateers welcome in the 2009-10 Skyline Champions, the Panthers of SUNY Purchase. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Riesenberg Hall Gymnasium.