PATCHOGUE, NY – The Maritime College men's basketball team rallied from 13 points down to tie the score with 17 seconds left at St. Joseph's LI on Wednesday night.  However, Xavier Allen drove for a layup with three seconds remaining and Tyler Anderson's (Smithtown, NY) halfcourt attempt at the buzzer was off the mark, as the Golden Eagles (11-11, 5-8 Skyline) posted a 66-64 victory over the Privateers (13-9, 8-5 Skyline) at the Danzi Athletic Center.

St. Joseph's LI held a 37-26 advantage at halftime, then increased that margin to a game-high 13 points, 39-26, on Spencer Malloy's bucket to start the second half.  Maritime scored the next six points to get within seven, 39-32, before the Golden Eagles pushed their cushion back to 12 points at 44-32.  The Privateers again came storming back, though, trimming their deficit to 44-40 on Jovan Germain's (Brooklyn, NY) three-pointer with 14:23 left.

With the Golden Eagles leading 62-57, Theo Noble (Bronx, NY) sank a trey to bring Maritime within two.  Jake Murphy (Rockville Centre, NY) then sank a layup to level the score at 62-62 with 2:06 remaining.  After an Allen layup put St. Joseph's LI back in front at the 39-second mark, Anderson hit a jumper to tie it at 64-64 with 17 seconds to play.  The Golden Eagles held for one shot, and Allen's layup gave St. Joseph's LI the 66-64 win.

Murphy paced the Privateers with 20 points, while Noble poured in 17 points to go along with five rebounds.  Anderson contributed 13 points and three assists, and Aleksandar Begovic (Kotor, Montenegro) grabbed a team-best nine boards.  As a team, Maritime shot 42.6 percent (23-of-54) from the field, 33.3 percent (9-of-27) from long range, and 60 percent (9-of-15) at the free throw line.

It was a 7-7 game four minutes into the contest when the Golden Eagles went on an 11-0 run to open up an 18-7 advantage.  The Privateers responded with an 8-2 run to pull within five at 20-15, but St. Joseph's LI countered with eight of the next 11 points to make it 28-18 with 5:04 left in the first half.  Allen's three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer increased the Golden Eagles' lead to 37-26 at the break.

For St. Joseph's LI, Malloy had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.  He also distributed seven assists.  Allen finished with a team-high 15 points, while Alec Tabada tallied 12 points.  Ryan McNeely added 11 points off the bench for the Golden Eagles, who shot a combined 51.7 percent (30-of-58) from the floor.  St. Joseph's LI was 5-for-13 (38.5 percent) from downtown and 1-for-2 (50 percent) at the charity stripe.

Maritime returns home on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup with St. Joseph's Brooklyn (5-16, 4-8 Skyline).  The Privateers earned a 67-62 win over the Bears when the squads met on Jan. 16.