Jan. 19, 2011

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's basketball team hosted #24 Bentley University in a Northeast-10 Conference clash on Wednesday, January 19. The Panthers held a 25-19 edge at the half, and finished the game with a 49-28 margin on the board, but fell, 64-54. With the loss Adelphi falls to 10-6 overall and 6-6 in the NE-10, while Bentley improves to 13-3 and 11-1 in conference.

Adelphi was led by David Akinyooye, who scored a game-high 21 points and added 10 rebounds. Brad Simpson also posted a double double, pulling down a game and career-high 14 rebounds (seven offensive) and adding 10 points. Richard Byrd chipped in eight points and nine rebounds in the loss.

The Panthers trailed by three, 55-52 with 2:39 on the clock, when a Simpson lay-up pulled Adelphi within one point. Simpson had the opportunity to knot the game at 55 if he completed his three-point play, but his miss was corralled by the Falcons, who answered with a completed three-point play to take a 58-54 edge with 1:42 to play. The Panthers would get no closer, falling 64-54 thanks to Bentley hitting all six free throw attempts down the stretch.

The first half was a defensive struggle, as the score was just 13-12 in Adelphi's favor at the 7:45 mark. However, the Panthers would close the half by out scoring Bentley, who led for just two minutes in the first period, 12-7 to take a six point cushion, 25-19, into the intermission.

Adelphi remained hot in the first few minutes of the second half, using a 6-1 spurt to take an 11 point lead, 31-20, on an Akinyooye jumper with 17:24 on the clock. Bentley would respond by chipping away at the Panther lead, eventually tying the score at 42 on a Sam Leclerc lay-up with 7:01 remaining.

The Panthers would retake the lead and extend it to three points on two Byrd made freebies at the 6:01 mark, but a Dan O'Keefe three-point play would knot the action at 47. Just 22 seconds after the O'Keefe effort a Tom Dowling driving lay-up put the Falcons ahead by two, 49-47, a lead that Bentley would keep the rest of the way.

Adelphi returns to the hardwood on Saturday, January 22 when they travel to Easton, Massachusetts to take on Stonehill College at 3:30 pm.