BRONXVILLE, N.Y. – The Maritime men's basketball team scored a key Skyline Conference victory on Saturday afternoon on a buzzer beater as the Privateers got a time-expiring three-point basket from freshman John Liccese (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) to give the team a 65-62 victory over the Sarah Lawrence Gryphons.
 
The play began with an in-bounds under their own basket with 2.8 seconds remaining, sophomore Liam Ryan (Buffalo, N.Y./Nichols) was called on to send the ball into play. Ryan found senior T'Vaughn Gibson (Freeport, Bahamas/Sunland Baptist Academy) at the near free throw line, and then dribbled it up the court and sent a pass towards the right wing to find Liccese. The freshman then pulled up for three at the right elbow and drained the bucket as the time expired.
 
Liccese ended the game with 11 points, as did Gibson, the pair also tied for the team-high with four assists each. Sophomore Brendon Halligan (Durham, N.Y./Cairo-Durham) led the team with 17 points, including five three-pointers and six overall field goals.
 
Sophomore Isaiah Hayes (Jamaica, N.Y./Queens Teaching) was also amongst the scoring leaders with 15 points and also led the team with 11 rebounds for his second-straight double-double and third overall on the season. Hayes also had a season-high five blocks, and was tied with Liccese and sophomore Darien Bryan (Jamaica, N.Y./Queens Teaching) for the team-lead in steals with two apiece.
 
Early in the game the Privateers stormed out of the gates with 13 straight as the team got points from Hayes, Gibson, and Halligan. With 15:42 left in the half, Sarah Lawrence got on the board with its first basket to make the score 13-2.
 
Later in the period, Maritime took a 14-point advantage following a Bryan three-pointer to make the score 20-6. The largest lead of the half came with 6:19 to go in the stanza as Halligan knocked down a three-pointer from Ryan on the assist. Sarah Lawrence trimmed the deficit to seven with 1:10 left in the half, but Liccese hit a layup with four seconds left to send Maritime into the locker room ahead by a 35-26 score.
 
In the early going of the second half, the Gryphons pulled to within two after a layup with 13:07 left in the game. But the shot was answered by Halligan to put the Privateers back up by five at 46-41. The Gryphons tied, and then took the lead with under nine to play, then built up an eight-point lead of its own with 5:55 to go.
 
Hayes connected on a pair of free throws to get the tide back in favor of Maritime, followed by a free throw from sophomore Bobby Parlow (Bay Head, N.J./Point Pleasant Beach). Hayes connected on a layup, and Liccese put up a fast-break layup to pull Maritime within one with 3:30 left in the half. Halligan continued to Privateer run with yet another three-pointer, followed by junior Tim McNamara (Somerville, N.J./Somerville) putting the team up by three with two minutes left after making a free throw.
 
With the game close, Hayes put Maritime ahead by a pair with 23 seconds left after making the second of his free throws. Twenty seconds later the Gryphons tied the game at 62 with a layup and 2.8 seconds left in the game.
 
Ryan was tasked with inbounding the ball, found Gibson, who in turn found Liccese for the buzzer beater from the right elbow. The Privateers swarmed the rookie guard on the court as the team celebrated its second Skyline Conference win and fourth overall win of the season.
 
Maritime (4-9, 2-4 Skyline) will return home for a three-game homestand that begins on Tuesday evening when the Privateers host Mount St. Vincent for a 7 p.m. start inside the Riesenberg Hall Gymnasium.
 
Sarah Lawrence (1-13, 0-8 Skyline) will continue its four-game homestand with a pair of tough matchups coming up as they square-off with Mount St. Vincent and Yeshiva to close out January.