Box Score 

Patchogue, NY (Feb. 22, 2014) – No. 16 Purchase was upended at St. Joseph's College-LI Saturday in a Skyline Conference stunner.

The St. Joseph's Golden Eagles (9-16 overall, 8-10 Skyline) took down the nationally-ranked Panthers 65-61, ending their conference win streak, which dated back to last year.

Despite the setback, top-seeded Purchase finishes the season at 23-2 and 17-1 in league play. The Panthers will now take part in the conference tournament Thursday, earning a quarterfinal bye before opening in the league semifinals.

St. Joseph's has certainly saved its best for last as they upset third-place Farmingdale State on Wednesday night to clinch the final spot in next week's tourney.   

SJC was led with clutch baskets down the stretch by guard Andy Laurent, who paced the squad with 22 points. Guard Sean McCarthy also had a big game with 13 points and eight rebounds in the victory.

The Eagles got off to a great start defensively, forcing turnovers on three of the first five Panther possessions, but Purchase jumped out to a 10-5 lead and the Eagles responded with a 3-pointer by Laurent and a deep three by McCarthy to give them a one-point lead with 12 minutes remaining in the first half.

Fast-break points by Nick Gallina and Julius Jackson handed the hosts a 15-12 advantage with five minutes left in the half.  

Both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net, shooting less than 31% from the field. The Panthers went 0 of 8 from beyond the arc in the half and were just 23% from the field, but the Golden Eagles defense deserves the credit for the Panthers' poor offensive half as every shot was highly contested, allowing few second-chance points.

The Eagles led by three with 35 seconds remaining when Jordan Kowalski drilled a 3, then drew a charge on the defensive end to close out the half with the Eagles leading, 20-14.

Just as the Eagles suspected, this undefeated Purchase team was not going to be shutdown offensively for 40 minutes.

The Panthers began the half on an 8-0 run, taking a 25-24 lead, but then Laurent answered right back with a 3 that brought the crowd to its feet and put the Eagles back in front.

The Panthers quickly went on a 10-4 run that gave them a 35-31 lead with just 13 minutes remaining but the Eagles' leading scorer this season, Darryl Charles, responded with a strong finish against a double-team on the inside to put the Eagles down two.

After a defensive stand by the Golden Eagles defense, Laurent hit a layup and completed the "And-1" to give the Eagles their first lead since the 19-minute mark of the second half. Charles continued to work in the paint, drawing a foul and converting both free throws.

Laurent hit a pair of free throws after the Panther bench was issued a technical foul and the Eagles led 40-35 with 11 minutes left in the game.  

Purchase then scored eight unanswered points on the next three possessions, including two straight long balls, forcing SJC to call a timeout with eight minutes remaining.

The two teams traded turnovers on four consecutive possessions before Laurent threw a long pass to Jordan Kowalski, who hit the lay-up, giving the Eagles the lead once again.

SJC got a stop on the defensive end and McCarthy hit a deep 3-pointer to extend the lead to four but Purchase battled back and trailed by just one with five minutes left.

Kowalski sent the crowd into hysteria with a contested 3-pointer to extend the lead once again.

Purchase split a pair of free throws and Laurent responded with a fade-away jumper that gave the Eagles a 54-48 lead with three minutes left.

Laurent continued to hit clutch shots, this time it was two free-throws with just under a minute left in the game, but Purchase once again had a quick answer to cut the lead down to five with 52.3 seconds remaining as the Panthers called a timeout.

Purchase cut the deficit down to three with 28 seconds remaining and trapped the Eagles in the backcourt but McCarthy broke free, feeding Charles for a layup to put SJC back up five, but the Panthers weren't ready to lose their first Skyline game of the season as they hit a 3-pointer, cutting the lead down to two with just 12.5 seconds remaining. A reach-in foul sent Laurent to the line with 9.5 seconds left and the freshman converted both free-throws, sealing the victory for the Golden Eagles against the first-place Panthers.

The Panthers were led by David Haughton (SR/Greenburgh, NY) with 14 points and 18 boards. Jake Stevens III (SR/Brooklyn, NY) added 12 for the visitors.    

-SJC-LI Sports Information Contributed to this report