NEW YORK --- (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) SUNY Old Westbury men's basketball lost a 98-70 decision to the Moravian Greyhounds on Sunday evening in the NYU Tip-Off Tournament consolation game from Coles Sports Center.  

Old Westbury's Cody Zafran netted the back-end free throw on a trip to the line 1:13 into play to break the scoring ice.  Charles Jones then drained a jumper to give Old Westbury a 3-0 lead.  With the game knotted at 10-all, Isaiah Jennings' field goal sparked a 17-2 Moravian (1-2) run from 13:05 to 9:08.  Old Westbury (0-2) scored five unanswered points to make it a 10-point game before Khalil Rhett's three pointer ignited a 17-0 Greyhound run from 7:59 to 3:33 for a 42-17 Moravian lead.  Down by 25 points, Lylle Ryals would score 11 of Old Westbury's next 12 points as part of a 12-5 Panther run to close out the half down 47-29.

The Panthers shaky play carried into the second half as Old Westbury committed three turnovers and misfired on three attempts from the field in the opening 4:17 of play.  Mark Gjonlekaj hit on a pair of free throws to put Old Westbury in the second-half scoring column with 14:46 remaining to make it a 57-31 game.  Zafran then scored seven of Old Westbury's nine points during a stretch midway through the half to trim the deficit to 26 points (70-44) with 9:37 showing on the second-half clock.  Moravian's lead grew to a game-high 33 points with 2:30 remaining en route to claiming the 98-70 victory.      

Ryals poured in a career-high 23 points (10-20 FG) to lead all scorers.  Zafran followed with a personal-best 11 points while Gjonlekaj added eight points, eight rebounds and two blocks.  Preston Powell set a career-high with nine points (3-3 FG) in eight minutes of action.  Ryals also nabbed three steals as P.J. Page went for two.  Keith Lackerson finished with two of the team's four assists in the game.    

Sean Hanna totaled 18 points, six assists and three steals to pace Moravian.  Matt Cardonne (15 points), Rhett (10 points) and Brandon McGuire (10 points) all scored in double digits.  

Old Westbury shot 41.2 percent from the field (21-51), 26.7 percent from three-point range (4-15) and 64.9 percent from the free-throw line (24-37) while Moravian fired on 55.9 percent from the floor (33-59), 59.3 percent from beyond the arc (16-27) and 69.6 percent from the charity stripe (16-23).  Both teams drew even in the rebounding department (34-34), as Old Westbury scored 13 second-chance points off 11 offensive rebounds.  Moravian scored 26 points off 21 Panther turnovers.  Old Westbury finished with its lowest assist total since compiling four helpers at Franklin & Marshall on January 2, 2011.  

ST. JOSEPH'S (L.I.) GOLDEN EAGLES UP NEXT FOR THE PANTHERS: Old Westbury returns home for Tuesday's (Nov. 24) Skyline Conference opener versus the St. Joseph's (L.I.) Golden Eagles at 6 p.m. from Clark Athletic Center.    

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