Behind MOP Davis, Down Rival FSC, All-American Matthews in Convincing 'Chip Victory
BY: SID Bobby Ciafardini and Lonny Unger
Box Score
Purchase, NY (Feb. 23, 2013) – Championship Round 2 goes to Purchase!
The championship rematch from a winter ago would be a no contest on Saturday night as the Purchase College men's basketball team soundly defeated fourth-seeded Farmingdale State, 71-48, riding the shoulders of towering tandem, Craig Davis (SR/Queens, NY) and 7-foot-1 center Joel Neri (SO/Port Chester, NY). The two, weeks after completing a similar feat in the second regular season matchup of the heavyweights, topped All-American center AJ Matthews and the Rams once again, this time in the league finale. After splitting the regular season at 1-1, second-seeded Purchase would take the game that mattered most, the Skyline Conference title game, with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
The Panthers, who have won three league crowns in four years under head coach Jeff Charney and punched their ticket to the NCAAs three times in four seasons, will now learn their "March Madness" fate on Monday afternoon on www.ncaasports.com when the selection show details their travels. Air time is set for 12:30 p.m. on the web.
Davis, all 6-foot-8 of the big man in the middle, proved to be the dominant force in a game where Matthews and his 28 points and 17 rebounds would not be enough. Davis, named Tournament MVP at the conclusion of the night, went 6 of 11 from the field, scoring a team-high 15 points and grabbing a team-high seven rebounds. Nearly every shot by Davis was clutch on the night as both Davis and Neri went to work on wearing down Matthews and patrolling the paint.
In what would prove to be a show of strong defenses by both teams, the offenses came out slowly with a Davis jump hook for Purchase the only thing to show in first three plus minutes of the night.
But Purchase picked up steam, taking a 10-2 lead on a jumper by Justin Person (JR/Greenburgh, NY) with 14 minutes to go in the half.
Neri and Davis, strong down low early, did some job rebounding and playing defensive against NBA prospect Matthews.
The two helped hold Farmingdale to one bucket in the game's first eight minutes before P.J. Paige hit two free throws at 12:12 to put the score at 10-4 Purchase.
A 3-pointer by Christian Nunez cut the Purchase deficit to one at 10:29 and two free throws by Matthews put Farmingdale up 11-10 at 9:50, but Andre Nixon (JR/Harlem, NY) was fouled on a 3-pointer and made two of three free throws to put Purchase up 12-11 at 9:06 and after a Farmingdale hoop and a lean in by Nixon made it 14-13 Purchase with about six minutes to go in the first.
Justin Bailey hit a 3 to put Farmingdale up 18-15 with just over four minutes to go, but Person answered back with a short jumper at 3:30 to cut the Farmingdale lead to one at 18-17.
Matthews hit two free throws with just over three minutes to go to make it 20-17 Farmingdale and at that point both defenses stiffened and the half ended on a layup from Amar Reynolds (SR/Bronx, NY) with 10 seconds to go to send the teams into the halftime locker room with the score Farmingdale 20, Purchase 19.
The start of the second half would set the tone for the rest of the game as Purchase began the second stanza with a block by Neri off a shot by Matthews, which was followed by a 3-pointer by Nixon to give Purchase a 22-20 lead at 19:20.
A quick spurt by Purchase – a short jumper by Nixon followed by a short jumper by Person – put Purchase up 27-22 with 16:49 to go in the game.
Turning to their inside game, a teardrop hook from Neri made it 30-25 Purchase at 14:48 and a short jumper by Davis at 14 minutes made it 32-25.
That was followed by a dribble drive to the hoop by Person to make it 34-25 with just over 13 minutes to go and a long 3 from Reynolds set the near sellout crowd on fire at 12:53.
Farmingdale's Ryan Davis calmed the Purchase crowd a bit with a 3-pointer to cut a Purchase lead to 39-28 with about 11:30 to go in the game.
At that point the two teams traded baskets, with Neri and Matthews going toe-to-toe inside.
But then a big 3-pointer by Reynolds made it 52-35 with just under 7:20 to go.
That was followed by two Odiase free throws to put Purchase up 19 with just under seven minutes to go.
Purchase went up by 20 at 55-35 just over the six-minute mark after Allan Forbes (SR/Bronx, NY) – doing a great job in giving a breather to Neri and Davis, both of whom were in foul trouble – drew an intentional foul from Matthews and hit one foul shot.
The Panthers ended any real hope of a Farmingdale comeback when Davis hit a layup and was fouled – and made the foul shot – with 2:45 to go to put Purchase up 61-39.
The Panthers never looked back. With the large crowd behind them chatting for an FSC exit, Purchase rode to the title with everyone making contributions in the closing minutes. The crowd called for popular reserve Isaac "Soup" Campbell and he emerged from the bench and scored a top-it-off basket. Fellow reserve Taj Bridgers (JR/White Plains, NY) also entered the game and walloped an emphatic jam in the waning seconds.
Purchase would cruise into the NCAAs, with Person, Davis and Reynolds accepting the championship trophy from Skyline Commissioner Linda Bruno. Davis would cap the night by receiving his MOP award as the Panthers cut down the nets at home for the second time in three years.