JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Alliance made 8-of-8 free throws over the final 29 seconds to seal a 65-69 victory over the HFU men's basketball team on Saturday night. 
 
Individual Highlights

• Rick'Keem Mixson (Linden, N.J./St. Mary of the Assumption (Raritan Valley CC)) led all players with a season-best 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 2-of-3 3-pointers
• Eric Esposito (Langhorne, Pa./Conwell Egan) was right behind him with 16 points, to go along with team-highs of seven rebounds and two steals, to become the 26th student-athlete in program history to surpass 1,000 career points
• Aamir Hurst (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann Goretti) added 15 points, including 4-of-7 3-trifectas, off the bench
• Josh Thomas (Queens, N.Y./Hodgson Vo-Tech (Cecil College)) led all players with a season-best two blocks, while finishing second on the Tigers with six boards
• Jake McGonigle (Ocean City, N.J./Wildwood Catholic) paced Holy Family with four assists

 
Inside the Box Score

• HFU made five more field goals, 26-21, and four more 3-pointers, 11-7, but Alliance held a major edge at the free throw line with 18 more makes, 2-20, on 19 more attempts, 4-23

 
How it Happened 
First Half

• Holy Family built the first three-possession cushion when Hurst both began and ended eight unanswered for a 21-14 score-line with 7:51 left in the first
• Alliance came right back with 10 in a row, and the two teams would trade points until the Tigers scored the final five of the half, with Esposito's jumper knotting the score for the 14th time at 30 entering the locker room

Second Half

• Esposito also opened the scoring in the second, and after five straight Alliance points,  back-to-back 3-pointers by him and Hurst started a 10-2 surge that ended with him putting HFU ahead 42-37 with 12:28 to go
• Alliance quickly tied the score once more with the next five points, and the two teams exchanged points with a David Robinson Jr. (Philadelphia, Pa./Chestnut Hill Academy) trifecta tying the contest for a 24th and final time at 48-48 with 6:43 showing
• Alliance would respond with back-to-back triples, sparking nine unanswered
• Nate Conyer (Pemberton, N.J./BCIT Medford Tech) made a 3-pointer but four consecutive points then established the largest lead of the night, 51-61, with 1:50 to play
• Holy Family would not go down without a fight as Mixson scored six in a row, the final of which came on a jumper with just 31 seconds remaining
• Hurst's triple got the Tigers within three, 60-63, with 15 seconds left, as did Esposito's jumper seven second later, 62-65, but Alliance would make the 8-of-8 foul shots over the final 29 seconds to seal the victory
• By the time Mixson's 3-pointer got HFU as close as two with two seconds showing, it was too late

 
Up Next
Holy Family takes a week off before traveling to Dominican for a 5 p.m. tip next Saturday.