Dec. 19, 2010

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's basketball team closed out the two-day Holiday Classic on Sunday, December 19 against former East Coast Conference rival, Dowling College. The Panthers led by just two at the half, 26-24, but shot 52 percent in the second half to secure a 70-45 victory. With the win the Panthers close out 2010 with an overall record of 7-3, while Dowling falls to 1-7.

Richard Byrd led the way for Adelphi with a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, teammate Chris Ranglin chipped in 16 points, six assists and grabbed five misses. Bradley Simpson also had a strong game off the bench, scoring a career-high 14 points and pulling down seven boards.

Adelphi and Dowling went back and forth in the opening 10 minutes of action, with no one taking more then a three point lead. A Golden Lion jumper at the 10:08 mark gave us our third tie of the first half, but a Ranglin triple a minute later gave the Panthers a three point cushion, 19-16.

The Adelphi lead would be moved to five, 23-18 on a Norron McDonald lay-up with 4:08 on the clock, but Dowling would close the half with a 6-3 spurt, entering the halftime break behind but just two points, 26-24.

The Golden Lions opened the second half aggressively, scoring the first four points to take a quick two point lead, 28-26 on a Michael Hill jumper with 17:43 on the clock. From there it was all Adelphi, as the Panthers unleashed a 17-4 run, including seven points from Byrd, over the next seven minutes to take control of the game, 45-32.

Dowling would get within single digits twice in the next two minutes, the last time at the 8:30 mark when a Leon Taylor foul shot cut the margin to nine, 46-37. However, Adelphi went on another run, this time out scoring Dowling, 19-4, as their lead grew to 24, 65-41, which put the game away.

The Panthers return to action on January 2 when they travel to Syracuse, New York for a meeting with Northeast-10 rival LeMoyne at 3:00 pm.