OLD WESTBURY, NY (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) - The top-seeded SUNY College at Old Westbury men's basketball team fell 81-69 to the visiting No. 4 seed Farmingdale State Rams in a Skyline Conference semifinal matchup Thursday evening from the Clark Athletic Center.  With the loss, Old Westbury stands at 22-4 on the season, ranked second in the Atlantic Region.  Selection Monday will determine if the Panthers receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.  Farmingdale State advances to the Skyline Conference Championship game on Saturday with a record of 20-7 on the season.  The Rams will hit the road to take on No. 2. Purchase.   

Old Westbury flexed their offensive muscles to open the game with a quick 6-1 lead just 2:12 into the contest.  Rashawn McCarthy scored six of Old Westbury's opening eight points as the Panthers held an 8-5 lead with 15:18 left.  Old Westbury used a 7-0 run to go up seven, their largest lead of the game, prompting a Farmingdale State timeout.  Out of the timeout, the Rams took control of the game with a 24-10 run from 12:27 to 53 seconds left to hold a 19 point advantage.  Joshua Bailey dropped in a layup to make it a 36-19 game at the half for Old Westbury.  With both teams shooting poorly in the opening half, Farmingdale State tallied 10 second chance points off 13 offensive rebounds. 

Farmingdale State went up by 20 points off a Justin Bailey three-pointer just 35 second into second-half action.  Old Westbury answered with a 12-0 run from 18:40 to 15:18 to slice the deficit to eight points.  Old Westbury went cold and Farmingdale State got hot from 7:22 to 3:36 when the Rams extended their lead to 21 points off an 11-2 run.  Old Westbury chipped away with a late 15-5 run to cut the deficit to 11 with 2:07 showing on the clock, but Farmingdale State proved to be too much as the Rams dealt the Panthers an early exit from the conference tournament.

Tyrik Tucker was one of four Panthers that scored in double figures, finishing with 16 points (5-18 FG) to go along with nine rebounds.  Kerel Mitchell followed with 14 points and four steals on 6-of-12 shooting from the field.  Mitchell, the nation's leader in made three-pointers per game, failed to connect from long distance for the first time all season, finishing 0-of-4 from beyond the arc.  Ty Moore added 13 points, six rebounds and tied a career-high with five steals while Josh Hill chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds. 

AJ Matthews posted a 30 point, 26 rebound double-double to lead Farmingdale State.  Ryan Davis registered 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.  Off the bench, Wilson Molina scored 15 of the Rams' 29 bench points and Christian Nunez ripped down 11 boards off the bench.

Old Westbury shot a season low 31.3 percent from the field (26-83) and connected on 13.8 percent from three-point range (4-29) and 65 percent from the free-throw line (13-20).  Farmingdale State launched 36.6 percent from the floor (26-71), 36.4 percent from the beyond the arc (8-22) and 70 percent from the charity stripe (21-30).  Farmingdale State held a +30 rebounding margin (65-35), scoring 22 second chance points off 24 offensive rebounds.  Old Westbury converted 23 Farmingdale State turnovers into 21 points. 

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