Box Score

Purchase, NY (Jan. 12, 2012) – It was the tale of two halves for the Purchase College Panthers on Thursday night as they dropped their first conference game to SUNY College at Old Westbury, 78-66.

The Panthers went to the locker room at half down 46-24 mostly impart to Tavon McNair, who led the charge for Old Westbury with 15 first-half points and finished with a game-high 28.

As a team collectively, Old Westbury shot 58 percent from the field in the opening stanza.

In the second half, Purchase came storming out of the gates. 

Trailing by 30 at the 14-minute mark, consecutive layups by Justin Person JR/Greenburgh, NY), who finished the game with 14 points, and William Williams (JR/Bronx, NY) drew the Panthers closer and consecutive 3s by D.J. Smith (JR/Saugus, CA), who led the Panthers with 17 points and shot 5 of 8 from three-point land, capped off a 28-2 run. The Panthers would trail by only six following the strong second-half surge.

As a team, the Panthers were issued four technical fouls, two of which were charged to John Presley (JR/New York, NY), who finished the game with 10 points. Collecting the other two were Smith and Williams.

Strong play off the bench by Brandon Serrano (JR/Hempstead, NY), who finished with 13 points and five boards, and Jimmy Moore (JR/Newburgh, NY), also sparked the comeback. Moore was impressive defensively and helped the Panthers with 42 second-half points.

Person netted 14 for the Panthers in the loss.

Up next, the Panthers will travel to the Bronx to play Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday.