Feb. 24, 2010

Box Score| Photo Gallery

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's basketball team played host to former East Coast Conference and now Northeast-10 rival University of New Haven in their regular season finale on Wednesday, February 24. The Panthers held New Haven to just 17 percent shooting in the second half to turn a 45-23 halftime lead into a 79-48 victory. With the win Adelphi finishes the regular season at 19-10 overall and 12-10 in the NE-10, while New Haven completes its season at 5-22 overall and 5-17 in conference action.

Richard Byrd led the Panthers with 20 points and six rebounds, while Steffon Farley turned in a double dip, scoring 19 points and pulling down 13 rebounds to go with five blocked shots. Rob Johnson also scored in double figures with 11 points, while Casey Cosgrove added nine points and a game-high 10 assists.

Adelphi took the suspense out of the game early, opening the contest with an 18-6 run that lasted the first six minutes of action, capped by a Byrd dunk. New Haven crept to within 11 points, 28-17, with 7:16 left in the half, but the Panthers closed the first period of action with a 17-6 run, including a triple by David Akinyooye at the buzzer to enter the half with a 45-23 edge.

The second half was more of the same as Adelphi pushed their lead to 30 points, 62-32, on a pair of Johnson made free throws with 11:56 remaining. From there the Panthers extended their lead, taking their largest advantage of the game, 77-41, on a Chris Diasparra jumper with 3:48 on the clock, before finally settling for a 79-48 victory.

Adelphi will travel to Springfield, Massachusetts on Saturday, February 27 for a first round Northeast-10 playoff match-up with AIC at 1:00 pm.