BOX SCORE

The men’s basketball team defeated the Rams of Farmingdale State, 77-70, in a non-conference home game on Tuesday night in the ARC Arena.

Prior to the home opener, the men’s basketball team presented Lionel Hilaire and his family with his career 1,000th point ball. Hilaire was playing in his first home game since scoring his 1,000th point on March 6, 2010, in an ECAC Metro semifinal against Old Westbury State.

Farmingdale State began the game by scoring the first 12 points, but the Bearcats rallied to take the lead at halftime, 39-33. The Bearcats started slow but finished the first half shooting 41 percent (14-34) behind 11 points from Hilaire and five points off the bench from Calvin Jurewicz-Johnson. 

During the second half, Farmingdale State managed to get as close as 60-59 with 6:24 left but the Bearcats scored six straight points on a jump shot each by Hilaire and Jurewicz-Johnson, along with two free throws by Mickey Abbatiello, to lead 66-59 with 3:35 left.

Farmingdale State (2-2) was able to cut the deficit to three points (68-65) on a Devon Henry lay up with 2:04 remaining but Baruch finished the final two minutes by scoring nine of the last 14 points to record the 77-70 victory.

Hilaire continued to add to his career scoring total and finished the game with 28 points (9-20 fg). Chris Beauchamp scored 12 of his total 17 points in the second half.

Abbatiello finished with eight points off the bench and Jurewicz-Johnson totaled seven points and three rebounds. Sean Loftus had a big game on the boards with 13 rebounds.

Josh Smith led Farmingdale State with 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field to go along with nine rebounds and four assists. Henry finished with 12 points and five rebounds.

The men’s basketball team will return to action on Saturday, November 27, with a 3:00 pm non-conference home game against Wesleyan University from the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC).