March 5, 2008

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi men's basketball team played host to seventh seeded Molloy College on Wednesday, March 5 in Woodruff Hall. The second seeded Panthers made 8-10 free throws in the final 41 seconds to seal the win, 60-55. With the victory Adelphi improves to 19-9 overall and advances to the semifinals of the ECC tournament, while Molloy ends their season at 10-18 overall.

Adelphi held Molloy scoreless until the 13:37 mark of the first half, building a 9-0 lead that was cut to 9-2 on a bucket from Glenn Martin. Three Panther baskets in the next three minutes gave Adelphi a 15-2 edge with 10:19 on the clock.

The Panthers kept the pressure on, taking a 15 points, 22-7 lead with 7:37 on the clock on a Chris Diasparra made three-pointer. However, Molloy would not quit, using a 6-0 spurt to pull within nine points, 22-13, before entering the half down 10, 25-15.

Adelphi opened up a 14 point lead, 32-18, just 2:25 into the second half, courtesy of Diasparra, Richard Byrd and Sky Khaleel, who all hit buckets during a Panther 7-3 run. Molloy responded with a 10-3 run, cutting the lead to just seven points, 35-28, with 14:24 to play.

The Lions kept the pressure up, out scoring Adelphi 13-8 over the next eight minutes, making it a two point game, 43-41, with 6:18 on the clock. Adelphi answered by unleashing a 9-0 run, that included seven straight points from Khaleel, to push the Panther bulge to 11 points, 52-41 with 2:52 remaining.

Molloy rose to the challenge, using a 9-0 run of their own to pull back to within two points, 52-50, with 50 ticks on the clock. From there Adelphi's excellence at the free throw line took over, as the Panthers made 8 of their final 10 free throws to shut the door on a 60-55 victory.

Vincent Falzone led three Lions in double figures with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Glenn Martin chipped in 14 points and seven rebounds, while Brian Hutchinson added 11 points.

Khaleel paced Adelphi with 17 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. Byrd added 16 points and four rebounds, while Diasparra netted 11 points and seven rebounds.

Adelphi returns to action on Saturday, March 8 when they take on the winner of the NYIT/Concordia game in the ECC semifinals in Flushing, New York at Queens College.