March 8, 2008

Box Score

Flushing, N.Y. - Junior Chris Diasparra picked up six of his 11 points from the foul line in the final 1:31 of play to help lift the Adelphi University men's basketball team to a 66-62 win over Concordia College in the semi-finals of the East Coast Conference Tournament on Saturday night at Queens College. The Panthers (20-9) will face C.W. Post in tomorrow's final at 3:00 p.m.

Junior Mike McDuffie led the Panthers with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Junior Sky Khaleel and freshman Richard Byrd chipped in 10 points each, with Khaleel contributing six boards.

Both teams got off to a slow start, with the score knotted at 5 at the 15:51 mark. There were six ties and 13 lead changes in the first half alone, with the Panthers down by as much five points, 22-27 at 4:29. The next five Adelphi points came from the charity stripe, to close the gap, 27-27 at 2:20. Junior Alvin Vivican and Pat Luptowski drained back to back three-pointers to push Adelphi ahead, 33-27, with under a minute to go. Richard Fields notched both free throws for Concordia to make it 33-29 at intermission.

The Clippers opened on a 6-2 run to tie the score, 35-35, at 15:45. Adelphi maintained its lead until 11:36 when two made free throws put Concordia ahead briefly. The Panthers quickly rallied back as Byrd connected on two field goals from beyond the arc to put the Panthers up by five, 46-41, with 10:42 left to go. Adelphi led by as much as eight, 53-47, on a tip in by Khaleel, at 6:39. The Panthers lead wasn't in jeopardy until the thirty second mark when Fields knocked down a three, 63-60. Still up by three with five seconds remaining, McDuffie went 1-for-2 from the foul line to seal the victory.

The Panthers, who average 72 percent from the foul line, hit 61.1 percent (22-of-36), but went to the line 36 times compared with just 20 for the Clippers. The also held a slight 42-37 rebound advantage.

Fields led all scorers with 18 points to go along with seven rebounds. Kenny Gaskins and William Eason had 10 points a piece. Concordia finishes the season with a 12-17 record.

Adelphi split with C.W. Post during the regular season, but was victorious in their last meeting on March 1, 99-88, in the regular season finale. C.W. Post defeated St. Thomas Aquinas to advance to tomorrow's final. The Panthers, which have won the last two ECC titles, topped the Pioneers in 2007, 61-58.