The Moravian men's basketball team defeated SUNY Old Westbury 70-63 in the opening round of the 34th Annual Greyhound Starters Classic. This is the 27th time the Greyhounds (4-6) will play in the championship game of the Starters Classic.

The Panthers (4-5) would get off to a quick start with a layup from senior guard Tavon McNair followed by a three-pointer from junior guard Kerel Mitchell to give SUNY a 5-0 lead just one minute into the contest. Junior guard D.J. Strayhorn would nail a three to put the Hounds on the board with 18 minutes remaining in the half. After two straight jumpers made by the Panthers, senior forward Jeff Cullinan would make a layup to make the score 5-9 with 15:52 to go in the first half.

After a layup from junior forward Aaron Thieme and another from freshman guard Izel Dickerson Moravian would close the lead to 9-11 with 12:31 left in the half. The two teams would exchange shots and SUNY would push its lead back to five after a jumper from Mitchell, but sophomore guard Kenny Gula would hit a deep three to bring the Hounds back within two points with five minutes remaining in the half. SUNY then went on a little run to take a 27-19 lead into the locker room.

The Greyhounds shot 23.3 percent from the field while the Panthers shot 46.4 percent from the field in the first half. Cullinan led the way for Moravian in the first half with six points and seven boards while sophomore forward Rob Sanders led SUNY with ten points and four rebounds.

The Panthers would start the second half with a three from freshman guard Omari Trebuse, and then a layup from McNair to give SUNY its largest lead of the game at 13 points with 18:19 to go. Moravian would start chipping away at SUNY's lead with back-to-back three's from Strayhorn and Cullinan to bring the Hounds within seven points of the lead with just under 17 minutes to go.

McNair would answer with a bucket of his own, but Cullinan would net back-to-back layups to cut the lead to 29-34 with 15:50 remaining in the contest. The Panthers would then go on a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 40-29 with just under 14 minutes left in the game. The Greyhounds would start their comeback after a layup from junior guard Garrett Johnson, and then two made free-throws on the next possession. After a steal by Strayhorn, sophomore forward Cameron Cullen hit the easy layup. Then another steal by Strayhorn would lead to another easy lay-in for Cullen to bring Moravian within three points of the lead with 13:07 left in the game.

SUNY would respond with a layup from Mitchell and McNair to push its lead back to 44-37, but a three-pointer from Gula brought the Hounds back within four points with 10:27 left in the half. After a jumper from McNair, Johnson hit a deep three to bring Moravian within one point of the lead. On the next possession, Cullinan nailed another three to give the Greyhounds their first lead of the game at 48-46 with just under eight minutes remaining in the contest.

The Panthers would battle back to tie the game at 52 with just under five minutes to go, but Strayhorn would answer with a three-pointer as the Hounds were up 55-52 with 4:42 to go. After a three from Mitchell, and then a dunk from McNair, SUNY would retake the lead at 59-58 with two minutes to go. With a layup from Hardy and then a three from Strayhorn, Moravian would go up 65-60 with :44 seconds to go, and would go onto win 70-63.

Cullinan led the way for Moravian with a double-double off of 18 points and 11 rebounds while Strayhorn put up 19 points, three assists and three steals. Johnson had 11 points and five assists while Hardy had seven boards, five steals and four points. Gula had six points in the game while Cullen put up five points.

Leading the way for SUNY was McNair with a double-double off of 19 points and 15 boards while Sanders had 12 points and eight rebounds. Mitchell put up 12 points while sophomore guard Everard Bisnauth had nine points and five rebounds.

Moravian shot 35.5 percent from the field while SUNY shot 44.1 percent from the field in the contest. The Greyhounds had 43 rebounds while the Panthers brought down 40 boards.

Moravian will take on the winner of Albright College versus Valley Forge Christian College in the championship game tomorrow, January 3rd at 7:30 p.m. SUNY Old Westbury will play the remaining team in a consolation game tomorrow at 3 p.m.