Box Score

Old Westbury, NY (Jan. 26, 2013) – A second half to forget for Purchase helped host Old Westbury prevail Saturday.

The Old Westbury Panthers trailed at halftime, but bounced back to outscore Purchase in the second half en route to a 72-56 Skyline Conference win at the Clark Athletic Center.

First-place Old Westbury (16-3), which outscored Purchase 41-22 in the second, claimed victory for the sixth straight game to improve to 11-0 in conference action while dropping Purchase 13-4 overall and to 7-4 in league play. Purchase is currently in fourth place in the Skyline.

After OW opened with the first score, Purchase went on a 14-2 run from 18:48 to 15:01 to grab a 14-4 advantage. 

But the hosts went up by five points after countering with a 21-9 run from 13:30 to 4:18 to take a 28-23 lead. 

Both teams exchanged leads down the stretch and an Amar Reynolds (SR/Bronx, NY) layup with 18 seconds left, in addition to an Andre Nixon (JR/Harlem, NY) layup at the buzzer gave Purchase a 34-31 lead at the half. 

Purchase scored the opening four points to go up 38-31 with 17:50 left in the second half and moments later held the same seven-point lead at 44-37 with 13:09 remaining. 

However, Old Westbury regrouped and took a 49-48 lead off the power of a 12-4 run with 8:22 showing on the clock. 

Purchase responded with a Justin Person (JR/Greenburgh, NY) layup while Darnell Chavis sank a pair of free throws with 7:53 left to put Old Westbury up for good, 51-50. 

Chavis' free throws sparked a 23-6 Old Westbury run to close out the final 7:53 of the game.

Tyrik Tucker combined game highs of 19 points and 14 rebounds to register his fourth double-double of the season. OW's Rashawn McCarthy followed with 17 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

Forward David Haughton (JR/Greenburgh, NY) posted a 12 point, 11 rebound double-double to lead Purchase in defeat.  Center Joel Neri (SO/Port Chester, NY) had 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks while power forward/center Craig Davis (SR/Queens, NY) contributed 12 points, seven rebound and two blocks off the bench.

-OW Sports Information Contributed to this report