WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.- Palm Beach Atlantic men's basketball team defeated Ave Maria University in Rubin Arena with a final score of 77-58. The win was PBA's first home victory of the season and snapped a current six game losing streak for the Sailfish, improving to 2-and-7 on the year.
Casey Carpinello started off the game by connecting from three in the team's first possession. Bakari Warthen would add a nice layup a few minutes later to give PBA a 5-1 lead with 17:31 remaining in the first half. The 'Fish would extend their lead to five on an Andrew Moemeka layup putting the score at 9-4. From there the Gyrenes would go on a seven-point run on two jumpers and a three-pointer putting them up 11-9 with 13:26 to play in the half. PBA would shortly follow with a six-point run of their own that Michael Stones would top off with a layup in the paint. After a couple of drained jump shots on each end of the court the Sailfish would go on another run. This time scoring nine points straight, five of which belong to Moemeka including a powerful dunk from the big man. Carpinello would end the first half by sinking two free throws to put the score at 36-29 in favor of PBA.
With 16 minutes to go in regulation Ave Maria battled back to tie the game at 40 all thanks to two treys from Romello Bates and Gianpaolo Riccio. From that point forward it was all Sailfish as they would go on a 17-to-2 run which included two threes from De'Ondre Jackson, four free throws from Matthew Johnson, a jumper from Moemeka, and a layup from Malek Barber. The 'Fish had a 15-point lead with the score 57-42. Jackson would go on to hit another three ball along with Barber as the Sailfish remained in command. They would go on to stretch their lead to as much as 22 before Ave Maria hit a three-pointer with 10 seconds on the clock. PBA then inbounded the ball and let the time expire as they won the game 77-58.
The Sailfish were seeing the basket well in the second half as they shot 56 percent from the floor and 71.4 percent from beyond the arch going 5-for-7 from three-point range. The 'Fish ended the game shooting 51.8 percent from the field (29-for-56), 46.2 percent from three (6-13), and 76.5 percent from the charity stripe (13-for-17). Jackson was tonight's leading scorer for the Sailfish with 13 points going 3-for-5 from deep and pulled down six rebounds to boot. Warthen and Barber each finished with 12 points apiece with Barber grabbing four boards and Warthen grabbing three. Moemeka put up seven points going 3-for-6 from the floor.
The Sailfish will be back in action on Wednesday Dec. 12 as they take on Albany State in Albany, GA. The game is scheduled for a 7 pm tip-off.
