Farmingdale State men's basketball wins Skyline Conference title for second straight season
Aaron Davis, left, and Corey Powell, right, celebrate with Michael Notias as he makes a buzzer beater midcourt jumper to end the 1st half as the Farmingdale State Rams defeat the Yeshiva University Maccabees 87-68 to win the Skyline Conference Final at Farmingdale,on Sunday,February 25,2024 Credit: Neil Miller
The Farmingdale State men’s basketball team is headed back to the Big Dance.
The reigning Skyline Conference champion won the regular-season conference title after being picked by the league’s coaches to repeat. With the Skyline’s automatic qualifier to the Division III NCAA Tournament on the line in Sunday’s conference tournament title game against second-seed Yeshiva, the top-seeded Rams again displayed their pedigree.
Farmingdale State made quite the statement at home, defeating the Maccabees, 87-68, to win the Skyline Conference championship for the second straight season and secure its second straight postseason bid.
Guard/forward Corey Powell scored 19 points en route to tournament MVP honors, guard/forward Nick Hurowitz and forward Kentrell Evans each had 15 points and Farmingdale State never trailed in a complete effort at Nold Hall.
“I’m so happy for my guys,” Rams coach Brendan Twomey said. “The way they played all year … Won last year, preseason No. 1 pick. They had a target on their back all year, and they responded.”
Farmingdale State (26-2) will learn its NCAA Tournament opponent and location for Friday’s first-round game during Monday’s 1 p.m. selection show, which will be broadcast on NCAA.com.
“These guys, they’re more than my teammates, these are my friends,” said Powell, a Valley Stream native. “Aaron [Davis], I played with in high school. Nick, it’s been crazy the last five years, coming from freshmen on the bench to now champions, back-to-back. It’s so special.”
Powell averaged 16.3 points and six rebounds while shooting 57.6% from the field in the Rams’ three-game run to the conference tournament title. Farmingdale State defeated eighth-seeded St. Joseph’s (LI), 89-64, in the quarterfinals Tuesday and fifth-seeded Sarah Lawrence, 81-66, in the semifinals Friday.
Farmingdale State carried a 50-37 lead into halftime Sunday, attacking the rim and feeding it to the 6-5 Evans, who had 12 first-half points. The Rams had 38 first-half points in the paint and 56 total.
“We got shooters everywhere,” said Hurowitz, a Mount Sinai native. “But at the end of the day, if we can get into the paint and force us down low, then we’ll get easy ones the whole game.”
Yeshiva (16-12) cut Farmingdale State’s lead to 52-47 with 16:41 remaining and Twomey called a full timeout. The Rams responded with a 12-1 run to take a 64-48 lead with 13:20 left, and Yeshiva never came within single digits again.
Yeshiva guard/forward Or Sundjyvsky led all scorers with 22 points. But the Rams held Yeshiva guard Zevi Samet, who averaged 23.1 points and 3.3 three-pointers before Sunday, to 12 points and two threes.
“We always game plan for them just as good as anyone else,” Hurowitz said, “but Corey Powell … he always does his best job against [Samet].”
In last year’s NCAA Tournament, Farmingdale State fell to eventual national champion Christopher Newport by just one point in the first round. Hurowitz said the loss “left a chip on our shoulder” but also gave the Rams the confidence to know they could compete with anybody.
The Rams will be motivated heading into Friday’s to-be-determined contest, but they will not lose sight of how special this season has been.
“I’m gonna enjoy this one,” Twomey said. “I don’t care who we play, where we play – I know my guys will be ready.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
