Written by Julia Ruocchio

When and Where:

January 21, 2025 - Patchogue, NY

Records:

St. Joseph's (L.I.), 4-12, 3-4 Skyline; Sarah Lawrence, 10-6, 6-1 Skyline

Results:

The St. Joseph's University (L.I.) men's basketball team fell to Sarah Lawrence College, 70-65, in a conference match-up at the Danzi Center on Tuesday evening.

Top performers:

• Senior Spencer Malloy led all players with a 23-point performance on 10-for-13 shooting from the field and recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds, while tying the game-high with three steals
• Junior Anthony Todd contributed 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field with six rebounds
• Senior Alec Tabada added eight points and three rebounds, while sophomore AJ Esposito scored seven points with three rebounds
• Braden Burman of Sarah Lawrence led the Gryphons with 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field and went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, with three rebounds and two assists
• Eamon Kelly scored 13 points with seven rebounds and four assists
• Lemar Fulmore added 11 points, four rebounds, and led all players with five assists, while tying the game-high in steals with three

How it happened:

• St. Joseph's jumped out in front early to take a 9-2 lead three minutes in, with Malloy scoring four points
• After a timeout, the Gryphons went on a 9-0 run to take a lead of 11-9 at the 12:02 mark, with Kelly's jumper giving the visitors their first lead of the night
• The Golden Eagles tied the game at 11 shortly after, then Sarah Lawrence took a five-point lead (16-11) on a three for Kelly at the 8:37 mark
• The hosts came within one on two occasions over the next two and a half minutes, before the Gryphons increased their lead to eight (27-19) on back-to-back three-point baskets for Chris Dougherty and Fulmore
• Baskets for Malloy and Graduate Student Justin Forest brought the hosts within four (27-23), then SLC proceeded to take a 10-point lead (33-23) for their largest lead of the half on a three for Thomas Matonti with 2:07 remaining
• Todd scored the final basket of the half as the Gryphons took a 33-25 lead into the break
• Sarah Lawrence increased their lead to 14 (40-26) with a 7-1 run in the first three minutes of the second half, which was their largest lead of the night
• Todd scored six straight points to trim the lead to eight (40-32) at the 15:16 mark
• The Gryphons led by double digits (54-43) on a three for John Kairouz at the 9:50 mark, then shortly after, the Golden Eagles cut the deficit to seven (57-50) on a three-point play for Todd with 7:56 on the clock
• St. Joseph's proceeded to come within four (59-55) on back-to-back layups for Esposito with 5:55 remaining
• SLC went back up by seven on a three-point basket for Burman, then a jumper for junior Matthew Maxwell brought the hosts within five (62-57) at the 5:18 mark
• Four made free-throws for Fulmore over the next three minutes increased Sarah Lawrence's lead to eight (66-58) with 2:07 remaining
• After a Malloy jumper, senior Ryan McNeely made a key three with 31 seconds remaining to make it a one possession game (66-63)
• McNeely made a pair of free throws shortly after to cut the deficit to two (67-65) with 25 seconds on the clock, which would be the closest they'd come as Sarah Lawrence made three free throws in the final eight seconds of the game to come away with a 70-65 win

Notes:

• St. Joseph's shot 47.3% from the field and 20.0% from three-point territory
• The Gryphons posted a 32.8% shooting percentage overall and 35.1% from beyond the arc
• The Golden Eagles held the advantage in rebounds (41-37) and points in the paint (38-10)
• SLC received 22 points from their bench compared to SJLI's 14

Next up:

The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday, January 25 when they visit the University of Mount Saint Vincent for a conference match-up at 2:00pm.