Box Score THROGS NECK, NY - The Maritime Privateers men's basketball team won their 13th game of the year (13-9), securing an above .500 regular season record for the first time in more than 10 years. It was also Maritime's 10th conference win (10-5), which puts them into third place in the conference and a guaranteed berth into the conference post-season. NYU-Poly fell to 3-19 (3-12) on the season.
The Privateers started the game off slow, falling down 21-8 in the first ten minutes of the game. The Blue Jays pushed the lead to 14 with 9:44 to play, but an 11-3 Privateer run cut the lead down to 6 at 29-23. The teams traded baskets down the stretch until Maritime hit the half's final basket with 6 seconds left to cut the lead to 4. NYU-Poly went into the locker room with the 43-39 advantage.
The second half began much like the first, with the Blue Jays coming out strong. NYU-Poly doubled the lead to 8 in the opening two minutes but Maritime didn't give up. The lead was cut to 3 with 13 minutes to play after Tim Dougherty (Fresh Meadows, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) (Fresh Meadows, NY/St. Francis Prep) connected on a breakaway lay-up assisted by Rahshawn Pringle (Bronx, N.Y./Frederick Douglas) (Bronx, NY/Frederick Douglas). The Privateers took their first lead of the second half with 11:06 to play, after Dougherty hit another lay-up. Despite tieing the score on two occasions over the next few minutes, the Blue Jays were never able to regain the lead. The Privateer hit their free throws down the stretch and sealed the victory at 85-76.
Leading the way for Maritime was Rahshawn Pringle with 21 points. Pringle was nearly flawless from the foul line, making 14-16 in the game. Andre Cooper (Baltimore, Md./Southwestern) (Baltimore, MD) had 17 points while Tim Dougherty (Fresh Meadows, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) followed with a double-double 14 points and 10 rebounds.
NYU-Poly was led by Arjun Ohri with 20 points and Anthony Mottola had 19.
After having won only 4 games two seasons ago, the Privateers have put together back to back seasons of big improvements. Last year, the Privateers more than tripled the win total from the previous year (13) and have matched that total already this season with three more conference games to play. The Privateers are on the road against Old Westbury on Saturday at 4:00PM, before coming home for senior day on Wednesday against Bard, and then closing the season out at St. Joseph's the following Saturday.
