Feb. 28, 2009

Box Score|GALLERY

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's basketball team played host to second ranked C.W. Post on Saturday, February 28 in the Center for Recreation and Sport in Garden City, New York. The standing room only crowd watched junior Casey Cosgrove put Adelphi on top, 53-52 with five minutes remaining with a deep three, but the Panthers could not hold on, falling 61-55. The loss drops Adelphi to 19-8 overall and 13-5 in East Coast Conference play, while C.W. Post remains perfect at 24-0 overall and 18-0 in ECC action.

The first half was played very tight as niether team could extend their lead to more then six points. Two Richard Byrd free throws pulled Adelphi to within one point, 20-19, with 9:41 left in the half, but back-to-back Kenny Burke buckets gave the Pioneers a five point edge, 24-19.

C.W. Post would extend a four point lead to six points, 27-21, on two Burke free throws with 6:38 on the clock, but Adelphi answered with two Casey Cosgrove freebies and a Mike McDuffie jumper to get within two points, 27-25. Then at the 2:04 mark a David Akinyooye bucket knotted the game at 29.

A Pioneer lay-up moments later pushed the score back in C.W. Post's favor, until a Byrd three-point play gave Adelphi their first lead of the half, 32-31. Bryd extended Adelphi lead to three points at the break, 34-41, with an off balance jumper from 15 feet out as time expired.

C.W. Post's Nick Carter hit a triple just 45 seconds into the second frame to knot the game at 34. After two more ties, baskets from Byrd and Sky Khaleel pushed Adelphi's lead back to four points, 42-38, with 13:04 left in the game.

The lead would stay at four, 48-44, with 8:22 to play courtesy of another Byrd jumper. But, a Carter three pointer with 6:49 on the clock gave C.W. Post their first lead of the second half, 49-48.

Adelphi would recapture the lead, 53-52 on a deep Cosgrove three with 4:56 on the clock, but back-to-back C.W. Post lay-ups gave the Pioneers a 56-53 lead and Kevin Spann triple with 2:32 remaining made the spread six points, 59-53.

Two Khaleel free throws with 2:02 on the clock would pull Adelphi to within four points, 59-55, but the Panthers would get no closer, falling 61-55.

Burkes led the Pioneers with 17 points and five rebounds, while Carter chipped in 15 points and seven boards. Spann also reached double digits, scoring 13 points and grabbing five misses.

Byrd was the high man for Adelphi with 17 points and four rebounds, while Akinyooye added 14 points and six rebounds. Cosgrove managed seven points and eight assists in the loss.

Adelphi returns to action on Wednesday, March 4 when they host an East Coast Conference tournament, quarterfinal contest.