THROGGS NECK, NY – The Maritime College men's basketball team's season-opening matchup with The City College of New York on Saturday afternoon was tied at 49-49 with 12 minutes to go. The Privateers (1-0) then outscored the Beavers (0-2) 38-15 the rest of the way to notch an 87-64 victory at Riesenberg Gymnasium. Maritime notched 55 points while shooting a blistering 66.7 percent (22-of-33) from the field in the second half.
Tyler Anderson (Smithtown, NY) paced five Privateers in double-figures with 20 points. He also tallied five assists and four steals.
Jake Murphy (Rockville Centre, NY) finished with 15 points and a team-high six rebounds, while
Amadou Kouyate (Harlem, NY) had 14 points off the bench on 7-for-9 shooting.
Theo Noble (Bronx, NY) posted 11 points, three assists and three steals, and
Evan Block (Seaford, NY) contributed 10 points. For the game, Maritime shot 52.5 percent (32-of-61) from the floor, 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from three-point land, and 80 percent (12-of-15) at the free throw line.
There were three ties and eight lead changes in a back-and-forth first half. The Privateers opened up a six-point edge when a pair of Murphy free throws made it 19-13 at the 8:43 mark, but CCNY countered with a 15-5 spurt to pull ahead, 28-24. With the Beavers leading 30-26, Murphy sank a trey to spark a 6-0 rally that put Maritime back in front, 32-30. CCNY's Chris Stone hit a jumper as time expired, however, sending the teams into the locker room level at 32-32.
It was still deadlocked at 49-49 with 12:08 remaining when a Block layup started a 14-2 Maritime run that gave the Privateers a 63-51 advantage. Maritime's lead was never below double-digits after that. The margin reached a game-high 24 points when
Dylan Goodman's (Syosset, NY) layup made it 87-63 with 28 seconds left before a free throw by the Beavers' Jordan Williams finished off the scoring in the Privateers' second straight season-opening win.
Edward Beqiri and Ricardo Dixon each recorded a double-double for CCNY. Beqiri finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds to go along with five assists and three steals, while Dixon tallied 18 points and 10 boards. Michael Bowman added 12 points, and Stone notched four assists and three steals. As a team, the Beavers shot 44.6 percent (25-of-56) from the field, 33.3 percent (5-of-15) from downtown, and 75 percent (9-of-12) at the charity stripe.
Maritime's next four games are all away from home. The Privateers begin the string with an 8 p.m. matchup at Medgar Evers (1-0) on Tuesday.
