Feb. 27, 2003

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi men's basketball team held off a late first-half surge to defeat Mercy College, 85-63, Thursday night at Woodruff Hall. The Panthers extend their win streak to seven, improving to 18-8 on the season and 17-6 in the NYCAC. The Flyers' season comes to an end, finishing 10-16 overall and 10-14 in the NYCAC.

Senior Wayne Nelson led Adelphi with 20 points and nine rebounds. Junior Dwayne Thompson contributed 14 points and three blocks off the bench. Freshmen Jamaal Wagner and Ben Kenyon added 13 and 11 points, respectively.

The Panthers held the Flyers to just nine points over the first ten minutes of play. Adelphi was 4-for-4 from three-point range during that stretch to open a 29-9 lead. Mercy came to life in the last nine minutes, outscoring Adelphi 22-11, to close to within nine points at the end of the half, 40-31.

A three-pointer by Kirk Maher at the start of the second half closed the gap to just six points. This would prove to be the closest they would get as Adelphi rallied back on a 36-20 run, realizing its largest lead of 22 points with 4:18 remaining.

On the game, Adelphi's defense forced 25 Mercy turnovers while also holding a 35-30 advantage on the boards. The Panthers' bench was also productive, chipping in 30 points on the game, compared with 10 for Mercy.

The Flyers were led by Michael Beaton who led all players with 24 points and 12 rebounds.

With tonight's win, Adelphi all but seals its spot as the #4 team going into the NYCAC Playoffs scheduled to begin next Tuesday, March 4. Final rankings won't be posted until Saturday, after all teams have completed regular season play.

Adelphi is back in action this Saturday, hosting New Haven in its regular season home finale. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m.