Farmingdale, NY (Feb. 23, 2017) – No. 4 Purchase fell to No. 1 Farmingdale State Thursday night on the road in the Skyline Conference Men's Basketball Championship semifinals.

FSC (19-7) utilized an impressive start to fend off the Panthers en route to the 87-72 win. The Rams will now face Sage in the conference championship game Saturday. The Gators defeated defending champion Old Westbury in the other semifinal.

Purchase's season came to an end in the semis.  The Panthers finish the year at 17-10.

Leading by 12 at the break, FSC outscored Purchase 20-16 over the first nine minutes of play in the second period to take a 61-45 lead. Although Purchase managed to keep pace throughout the second half, the first-half deficit – spurred on by the early 9-0 run and subsequent double-digit lead – was difficult to overcome.     

The valiant Panthers chipped away; cutting the deficit to 10 on a Deshawn Cann (SO/Queens, NY) made free throw at 9:18 (63-53).

But Farmingdale, which reeled off another spurt midway through the half, managed to keep the score at 10 or more, holding a 76-66 lead at the four-minute marker. The Rams took a timeout at 3:53, leading by 10.

The Rams sealed the win in the final four minutes from the free-throw line. FSC outscored Purchase 11-6 down the stretch.  

The first half featured several runs. FSC led 9-0 out of the gate and 11-4 early, but a Brian Berrios (JR/New York, NY) 3-pointer cut it to 11-7 under 16 minutes.

The Rams kept the pressure on, using the 3-pointer to race out to a strong lead. The hosts led 19-7, when the Panthers and head coach Kyle Martin took a timeout at 13:15.  

The visitors cut the deficit to 10 on a 3-pointer by Michael Soffer (SO/Agoura, CA) (21-11), but FSC rebounded behind another spurt to take a 26-17 lead at around seven and a half minutes. The lead was extended to 32-17 at 6:16, prompting another timeout by Purchase.

Both teams traded hoops for the remainder of the half.

Cann sunk one-of-two free throws for the Panthers at 4:05 to help Purchase close back to 12 (34-22), but Ram free throws extended to 36-22.  

Purchase responded by scoring back-to-back, including a driving layup by Cann to make it 36-26 with under three minutes to go in the first half. A coast-to-coast fast break hoop by Cann energized the Panther bench and forced FSC to call a timeout of its own at 2:24. The Cann score brought Purchase to within eight points, 36-28.   

The half ended with FSC leading 41-29. The Rams outscored Purchase 5-2 over the final two minutes of the half.

FSC was paced offensively by Trey Kinard and Weldon Irvine over the first 20 minutes, with each scoring eight-points apiece. Purchase was led by Berrios in the opening half. He shared the first-half lead in points with eight.   

For the game, Berrios finished with a game-high 21. Reserve Matthew Graham led FSC with 20 points.