THROGGS NECK, N.Y. – The Maritime basketball team picked up its first conference win since January 7^th with a 73-67 win over St. Joseph's (Bklyn) on Saturday afternoon at Riesenberg Hall Gymnasium.  

Four Privateers finished in double digits, but it was senior Brendon Halligan (Durham, N.Y./Cairo-Durham) who led the scoring with 17 points, shooting .417 with three triples and going a perfect 4-for-4 from the stripe. Junior Patrick MacDonald (Buffalo, N.Y./Canisius) added 15 points and also collected a career high 19 rebounds, while also tying his career high of four blocks and three steals. Senior Tim Hoch (Coventry, R.I./Fishers Island (N.Y.)) followed with 14 points, and junior John Liccese (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman) rounded out the top scorers with 13 points and seven assists.

Both Maritime and St. Joseph's (Bklyn) got off to a slow start, but a three-point shot from Halligan opened up the scoring for the Privateers. After a bucket by MacDonald, the Privateers did not see another point for over two minutes until Hoch sunk a free throw at the 14:16 mark. Maritime finally saw its first lead of the game at the 11:53 mark thanks to a three-point shot off the hands of freshman Brendan McGovern (Seaford, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) from John Liccese (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Spellman). After a trip up and down the wood, Halligan once again nailed a three-point basket to open up the Privateer lead to six, the largest of the first half.  St. Joseph's (Bklyn) quickly took back that lead however, as the Bears drained two consecutive three-pointers. The lead went back and forth for the remainder of the first half, but the Privateers had the edge at the midway point, leading the Bears by a narrow 29-28 score at the midway point.  

Maritime came out firing early in the second half, using a 10-0 run out of the locker room to bend the momentum toward the Privateers. Within the first two minutes of the second half, Hoch found his shooting touch, putting in two straight three pointers, while Liccese added four points of his own during the time frame. The Bears finally stopped the bleeding at the 17:01 mark when Kavan Meiner scored a two-point shot, but Hoch dropped another three-point dime to give the Privateers a 42-30 lead, what would be the largest Privateer lead of the contest. The Bears were able to cut that lead to as little as four points, but the Privateers kept on building up points to keep the momentum rolling. With 2:38 on the clock, MacDonald came up with a huge block down low and followed that up with a dunk on the other side of the court, extending the lead back to ten. The Bears slowly chipped away, once again cutting that Privateer lead to four using an 8-1 run, but the lead was too much, forcing the Bears to foul with eight seconds remaining. Halligan and McQuail each took two free throws and made them all, sealing the deal for the Privateers.

Defensively, the Privateers forced 12 St. Joseph's (Bklyn) turnovers and also collected 39 defensive rebounds, a season high.  

With the win, Maritime improves to 8-9 overall and 3-5 in league action. St. Joseph's Bklyn sinks to 4-14 overall, and 1-9 in the Skyline Conference.

The Privateers next see a crucial Skyline Conference game when they see the first place Farmingdale Rams. The game is set to tip at 6:00 p.m. at the Lynch Sports Center on the campus of Farmingdale College.