THROGGS NECK, NY – Playing at home for the first time in nearly a month, the Maritime College men's basketball team trailed St. Joseph's LI by eight at halftime on Wednesday night.  The Privateers (9-5, 4-1 Skyline) opened the second half on a 27-10 run to take a nine-point lead before holding off the Golden Eagles (7-7, 1-4 Skyline), 67-63, at Riesenberg Gymnasium.

St. Joseph's LI held a 42-34 edge at the break, then Spencer Malloy's layup early in the second half made it a 10-point game.  Theo Noble (Bronx, NY) hit a three on the other end to start the Maritime comeback, and the Privateers went in front, 48-46, on Tyler Anderson's (Smithtown, NY) layup with 13:24 remaining.  The Golden Eagles knotted the score at 50-50 before Maritime responded with 13 of the next 17 points to build a nine-point cushion, 63-54, with 5:38 left.

After St. Joseph's LI rattled off eight straight points to pull within one, 63-62, Jovan Germain (Brooklyn, NY) sank a pair at the line to bring the Privateers' advantage back to three, 65-62, with five seconds to go.  Maritime fouled in order to prevent the Golden Eagles from getting a last-second shot off, and Xavier Allen made the first free throw before intentionally missing the second.  Noble tracked down the rebound for the Privateers, however, and he was immediately fouled.  He calmly hit them both to seal the 67-63 win.

Aleksandar Begovic (Kotor, Motenegro) pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds, which equaled the sixth-most for a single game in program history.  He also posted four assists and three blocks.  Offensively, Jake Murphy (Rockville Centre, NY) paced Maritime with 14 points, while Noble and Evan Block (Seaford, NY) recorded 13 points apiece.  Anderson distributed four assists, and Amadou Kouyate (Harlem, NY) contributed eight points to go along with three assists and two blocks.  As a team, the Privateers shot 40 percent (24-of-60) from the field, 35.7 percent (10-of-28) from downtown, and 60 percent (9-of-15) at the charity stripe.

Maritime took a 14-11 lead on Murphy's trey at the 13:22 mark of the first half, but St. Joseph's LI responded with a 12-2 run to build a seven-point cushion, 23-16.  An Anderson dunk tied the score at 27-27 before the Golden Eagles rattled off eight straight points to go up 35-27.  After the Privateers scored the next five points to pull within three at 35-32, St. Joseph's LI ended the first half on a 7-2 spurt to take a 42-34 advantage into the locker room.

Allen just missed a double-double for the Golden Eagles, finishing with 25 points and nine rebounds.  Terrin Roy notched 12 points on four treys, while Malloy registered 10 points and seven boards.  Thomas Bell added nine points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.  St. Joseph's LI shot 41.1 percent (23-of-56) from the floor overall, but was held to just 20 percent (6-of-30) shooting in the second half.  The Golden Eagles were 5-for-12 (41.7 percent) from three-point land and 12-for-15 (80 percent) at the free throw line.

Defending Skyline champion Farmingdale (13-1, 5-0 Skyline) visits Riesenberg Gymnasium at 1 p.m. on Saturday.  It will be the first meeting between the Privateers and Rams since Farmingdale's 73-53 victory in last season's Skyline semifinals.