Waleed Farid made this three-pointer to push him over the 1,000-point scoring plateau. |
HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 30, 2007) – Junior guard Waleed Farid (Woodside, N.Y.) became the 11th player in program history to surpass 1,000 career points as the Stevens Institute of Technology men’s basketball team captured its sixth straight win and 12th in the last 13 games with an 85-81 victory over 2005-06 Skyline Conference champion Farmingdale State College on Tuesday at the Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J. With the win, the Ducks improved to 15-4 on the year and 8-2 in Skyline play.
With 15 wins, Stevens is now one victory shy of equaling the school record for wins in a season. In 1995-96, the Ducks went 16-11. On two separate occasions, Stevens won 15 games in a season – once in 1984-85 and then again just last year.
Farid, who entered the game with 998 career points, knocked down a three-pointer from the right baseline with 16:27 remaining in the first half to eclipse the scoring milestone. He finished the game with 13 points – giving him 1,011 for his career. Farid added 12 rebounds and six assists in the victory.
Meanwhile, sophomore guard Virgil Gray II (Elmwood, N.J.) became the first Stevens player to reach 30 points this season as he went for an even 30 on 9-for-18 shooting from the field and 12-for-14 at the line. Gray’s scoring total also set a new career-high. He contributed eight rebounds and four assists as well. Sophomore guard Anthony Passalacqua (Staten Island, N.Y.) went for 22 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the floor. He was four of five from downtown and made eight of 10 free throws in the game.
Farmingdale (10-7, 6-4 Skyline), which reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament last year, has dropped four straight conference games since opening the season with a 6-0 mark in Skyline play. The Rams were led by the sensational shooting of junior guard Peter Lipka (Shelton, Conn.). After scoring just three points in the first half, Lipka drilled all nine of his field-goal attempts and was 6-for-6 from downtown in the second half (24 points). He finished with a team-high 27 points on 10-for-11 shooting. Lipka was 7-for-8 from long range in the game and contributed six rebounds.
Sophomore guard Damien Santana (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 22 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Terry Menefee (Mission, Kan.) finished with 11 points.
After leading by as many as 14 points in the first half, Stevens held a 45-34 advantage at the break. Farmingdale worked its way back into the game and had a chance to tie the score at 50-all with 15:48 to go, but junior forward Tom Canning (Oak Beach, N.Y.) could not convert a conventional three-point play as he missed the free throw.
The Ducks answered with a 13-4 run over the next four minutes to open a 63-53 lead with 12 minutes remaining. Gray got things started with a three-point play. Passalacqua scored the final 10 points of the spurt.
With 15.3 seconds left, the Rams closed to within 84-81 on a three-pointer by Lipka. After both teams called timeouts, Passalacqua’s in-bounds pass went through the legs of freshman guard George Greco (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) and out of bounds in front of the Farmingdale bench.
On the ensuing Rams’ possession, Menefee’s three-pointer from the top of the arc was off the mark and went out of bounds to the Ducks with 5.5 seconds left on the clock. Gray was fouled and made one of two free throws with 4.4 seconds to go to provide the final points of the game.
Stevens shot 39.7 percent (27-for-68) on the night. Farmingdale was 30-for-63 (47.6 percent) from the field in the game. The Ducks made 24 free throws to just 11 by the Rams, who committed 25 turnovers in the contest.
On Thursday, Stevens will be back in action as the Ducks host Maritime College at 7 p.m.
