Kings Point, NY – In what was the most inspired performance of the season, the United States Merchant Marine Academy men’s basketball team crept back into the Skyline picture with an 85-55 trouncing of the mighty Farmingdale State Rams, ending FSU’s 23-game conference win streak.
At the outset, both teams felt one another out via trading buckets for the first 10 minutes, though Farmingdale (10-4, 6-1 Skyline) sported a slight edge throughout that span. FSU’s largest lead came at 11-7 at the 15:27 mark of the period, but that was as large as it would get.
Freshman Alex Loepker pulled the Mariners to within a point with five unanswered to make it a 12-11 deficit with 13:36 remaining in the half. Junior Brian Kelly added to the run with consecutive lay ups to give Kings Point a 16-11 advantage at 9:57.
Peter Kipka put an end to the 9-0 USMMA spurt with a three ball to pull FSU to within a field goal, but that would be the final threat from Rams on the night. Following yet another Kelly lay up, USMMA added 11 more to the 13-0 run to jump in front by 13 points (25-14) with 5:44 left in the frame.
Two minutes later the Rams chipped the deficit to a manageable nine points, but back-to-back treys from sophomore Jimmy Sanders upped the ante back to 13. Loepker nailed a three ball with 90 ticks left, followed by a Sanders’ lay in 52 seconds later to give USMMA a shocking 17 point lead at the break.
With senior center Zach Wyatte spending the majority of the first half on the bench as a result of picking up two quick fouls, the Camp Hill, PA native made his presence felt immediately on the opening possession of the second half with a block of Sean McCabe, resulting in a Sanders fast break lay up on the other end to set the tone for the rest of the game.
The Mariners continued to force one-and-outs on the defensive end of the floor and stroked the twine on the offensive side to keep the momentum clearly in their favor. USMMA took its largest lead over any opponent this season with 11:36 remaining on a Kelly long ball to take a 62-32 advantage.
Kings Point would eventually sport a lead of 34 points (82-48) on freshman center Tyler Gavis’ first touch. Freshman Jason Williams, who has also seen limited action this season, got his name in the scorer’s book with a jumper with 2:01 left.
USMMA won the game with its bench and three-point shooting. Heading into the break, the Mariner bench outscored that of Farmingdale, 13-1. Kings Point bench would outscore the Rams’ 22-15 for the game. The Academy also made good on 11 trifectors.
The big men did an excellent job forcing the penetrating guards of Farmingdale into tough shots with eight blocks. USMMA dished out a season high 24 assists on the night.
Kelly led the way for the Mariners with career-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. Sanders added a complete game effort of 17 points, eight boards and seven assists. Loepker totaled 16 points in the win. Senior Paul Tricarico had a solid outing with nine points and seven dimes, while freshman point guard Pat Grace did a superb job of running the offense with six points, five assists and seven rebounds. Wyatte notched six points, nine rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes.
Kenny McMillan paced the Rams with 12 points, while MD Mazique added 11.
“Everyone played well,” remarked fifth year head coach Chris Carideo. “The biggest thing that we have preached is playing with spirit energy and unselfish. That’s what we did tonight. We came out ready to play. We haven’t played KP basketball until tonight. Hopefully this win shows the guys what they’re capable of.”
USMMA (7-6, 2-2 Skyline) return to action for the night-cap of an afternoon Saturday double header at Liebertz Gymnasium versus Centenary College at 4 p.m.