March 1, 2008

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi men's basketball team played host to cross town rival and 18th ranked C.W. Post on Saturday, March 1 in the final regular season game to be held in Woodruff Hall. The Panthers shot 72 percent in the first half, building a 55-35 edge that turned into a 99-88 victory. With the win Adelphi closes out the regular season 18-9 overall and 14-6 in the East Coast Conference, while C.W. Post falls to 23-4 overall and 18-2 in conference action.

C.W. Post had the momentum early, as the Pioneers built an 11-7 lead 3:38 into the action. C.W. Post continued to lead, 17-15, with 13:29 to play when a Sky Khaleel jumper sparked a 17-5 run that gave Adelphi a 32-22 edge and was capped by a Pat Luptowski three-pointer with 7:43 remaining in the first.

The Pioneers battled back, using a 10-4 run to cut the Panther margin to just four, 36-32. Adelphi answered by closing the half with a 19-3, that included nine points from Richard Byrd and gave the Panthers a 55-35 bulge heading into the half.

C.W. Post came out of halftime hot, opening the second frame with a 12-3 run that cut Adelphi's lead to just 11, 58-47, with 15:35 to play. A Luptwoski three and back-to-back buckets from Chris Diasparra pushed the Panther lead back to a comfortable 17 points, 66-49, with 12:52 on the clock.

Adelphi's lead remained double digits until the 6:21 mark, when a Wesley Matthew's free throw made the score 74-65. C.W. Post kept the pressure on, answering two Byrd free throws with back-to-back three pointers to slice Adelphi's lead to just five, 76-71 with 5:33 to play.

The Panthers road Diasparra, who scored seven of Adelphi's next nine points, to a 10-point lead, 84-74, with 3:36 on the clock. With 1:22 to play, Adelphi still clung to an 11-point lead, 94-83, but the Pioneers would not back down, pulling to within six points, 94-88, on two Jonathan Schmidt free throws.

But that was as close as Adelphi would allow C.W. Post to get, as an Oppong Agyemang free throw and a Sky Khaleel made lay-up gave Adelphi a, 97-88 lead and two Alvin Vivican free throws with four seconds left sealed the game.

Schmidt led all players with 29 points and added four assists and four rebounds. Brandon Butler chipped in 22 points and Matthews added 18 points and four rebounds.

Khaleel led five Panthers in double figures with 20 points and seven rebounds, while Vivican scored 17 points and handed out six assists. Byrd netted 18 points and pulled down five misses, while Diasparra scored 16 and also grabbed five rebounds. Luptowski scored 11 points off the bench and also hauled in three rebounds and picked up two assits.

This is the most points that Adelphi has scored since a 112-66 win over Concordia on January 30, 2002 and the most points that the Panthers have ever scored against C.W. Post.

Adelphi will return to action on Wednesday, March 5 when they host an ECC Quarterfinal match-up in Woodruff Hall.