Feb 22, 2014
ALBANY, NY (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) - The SUNY College at Old Westbury men's basketball team secured the fifth-seed in the upcoming Skyline Conference Championship Tournament with Saturday's 77-57 road loss against the Sage Gators in the regular season finale. Old Westbury concludes the regular season at 14-11 overall and 10-8 in conference while Sage stands at 15-9 and 11-7, respectively.
Sage set the tone early, pulling down an offensive board and kicking it out to Jeff Stopera from long distance to break the scoring ice just 12 seconds into play. Down 5-0, Old Westbury answered with an Omari Trebuse triple and a jumper by Floyd Leroy to knot the game at 5-5. Ford Melvin's free throws with 17:37 remaining put Sage up for good at 7-5. Melvin's successful trip to the line kick started a 13-4 run to put Sage out in front, 18-9. Sage closed out the final eight minutes of the half with a 21-9 run to hold a 44-29 edge at the break.
The Gators used a 16-5 run over the opening 6:02 to expand its lead to a game-high 26 points (60-34). Old Westbury would get as close as 19 points with 2:02 remaining when Trebuse scored three of his eight second-half points. Trebuse closed out the final 2:02 by scoring all eight of Old Westbury's points.
Trebuse's 14 points led the Panthers in scoring while Ray Parker followed with 11. Both Trebuse and Parker added three steals while Mark Gjonlekaj nabbed five thefts (career-high) to go along with nine points and eight rebounds.
Kai Deans paced Sage with 16 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and three steals. Ryan LaBelle added 11 points as Stopera went for a game-high six assists.
Old Westbury shot 29.6 percent from the field (21-71), 27.8 percent from three point range (10-36) and 41.7 percent from the free throw line (5-12) as Sage landed 50 percent from the floor (25-50), 38.9 percent from long distance (7-18) and 76.9 percent from the charity stripe (20-26). Sage won the boards battle, 54-30, scoring 15 second chance points off 14 offensive rebounds. Old Westbury forced a season-high 30 turnovers, scoring 31 points off Sage's miscues.
SKYLINE CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS AT SAGE GATORS UP NEXT FOR THE PANTHERS: Old Westbury enters the quartfinal round of the Skyline Conference Tuesday evening as the fifth-seed at fourth-seeded Sage Gators. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. inside Kahl Gymnasium.
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