Farmingdale State - 70, Sage - 51

Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State men's basketball team played host to first place Sage this afternoon and earned a 70-51 victory. The Rams improved to 8-3 in the Skyline Conference and 8-8 overall.

Tied 4-4 in the opening minutes, Farmingdale State used a 9-0 run to take a 13-4 lead with 13:24 remaining in the first half. Leading 17-9, freshman guard Matthew Graham (Valley Stream, N.Y.) and sophomore guard Liam Monaghan (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) connected on back-to-back 3's to increase the FSC advantage to 23-9.

After Sage (10-6, 8-3) closed to 23-12, Farmingdale State outscored the Gators 21-1 over the final 6:59 of the half and took a 44-13 lead into the break. Sage was held without a field goal for the final 9:48 and shot 16% (4-for-25) from the field in the first half.

An Eddie Kinloch (Brooklyn, N.Y.) layup opened the second half for FSC but the Gators responded with 12 unanswered points to cut the deficit to 45-25. The Rams rebounded with a 13-2 run to bring the lead back to 31 points at 58-27 with 9:09 left to play.

Farmingdale State led by at least 19 points the remainder of the game en route to the 70-51 win.

Graham, who shot 6-of-9 from the field, finished with a game-high 18 points and five assists, while senior forward Anthony Lanieri (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) scored 12 points and was 2-for-2 from behind the arc. Junior forward Weldon Irvine (Queens, N.Y.) pulled in a team-leading eight rebounds for the Rams.

Sage was led by senior guards Andre Robinson (Port Pierce, Fla.) and Jorrdan McCray (Orlando, Fla.) who scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Farmingdale State will now travel to Yeshiva for a Skyline Conference game on Wednesday, January 20th at 8:00 p.m.

*****