Photo by Christian Hernandez
BY Jeff WeisingerSenior Sports Editor If there was any perfect way to start the 2015-16 for the Men’s Basketball team to start the season, a win against a fairly decent team would work.CCNY took down Farmingdale State 68-57 in their season opener Tuesday night in a game where City started hot, but cooled off significantly toward the end of the first half, allowing the Rams to rally back going into the locker room at halftime and more importantly in the second half.City’s Khalil Hamer notched his first double-double of the season, scoring a game-high 18 points on a night where neither team could gain a true rhythm to the basket. The Rams shot just 29 percent from the court while the Beavers shot just 36 percent from the court. Hamer went just 4-for-11 from the court, however went 10-for 12 from the free throw line.David Solano dropped 17 points for City, shooting 50 percent from the court (5-for-10), while nailing five shots from beyond the arc, to keep City in the lead throughout the game.The Beavers also gained 27 points off of the bench and shot an overall 81 percent (17-for-21) from the charity stripe, a solid start for this reloaded City team.CCNY opened the game on an 8-2 run in the first four minutes, en route to a 27-11 lead with just six minutes left.That’s when things started to go south for City. Following several missed shots and turnovers by City, Farmingdale State ended the half on a 9-3 run, six of which from Eddie Kinloch. The Beavers’ shooting woes from last year crept up again as CCNY made just one shot, a three-pointer by Dardan Lahu, in the final 6:47.CCNY went back up by 15 with just over 18 minutes left on a three-pointer by Solano and a layup by Salvatore Palazzolo. FSC cut the lead to just five on a three-pointer by Jarred Marrow with 6:40 left. A layup by Ram Chadha and a three by Kenny Taylor put City back up by 10 and the Beavers would hold off any further attempt at a rally by the Rams.CCNY (1-0) travels to Allerton, Pennsylvania for the Muhlenberg tournament this weekend before returning for their much-anticipated CUNYAC opener against Brooklyn College on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m.