Garden City, N.Y. - This past weekend, on Friday, November 6 and Saturday, November 7, the men's basketball team took on the Blackbirds of Long Island University-Brooklyn and the Jaspers of Manhattan College in exhibition game. The Panthers dropped a 66-74 game to LIU and then fell 68-74 to Manhattan.
 
LIU-Brooklyn – Box Score
The Panthers had four players in double digit scoring, led by Chris Ranglin with a team high 18 points. Despite shooting 45 percent from the field and leading the Blackbirds for virtually the entire game, they faltered down to the wire in the final two minutes and came away with an eight point loss.
 
Adelphi  found themselves down 8-6 within the opening five minutes, but a three pointer by Ranglin gave his team the lead that would hold through almost the entire second half. The Blackbirds stayed close, staying within two buckets, and briefly took the lead on a Julian Boyd jumper, but again, Ranglin connected on two attempts from the charity stripe to put his team back on top.
 
A 9-2 Panther run gave them an eight point lead, the highest of the half with less than four minutes to play before the conclusion of the first 20 minutes. Heading into halftime. Adelphi led LIU 30-23.
 
Cliff Brown jumpstarted the final act with a made shot from behind the arc, putting the Panthers up by 10; the biggest lead of the game. At the 16:24 mark, Boyd was successful on a three point conversion which sparked a 10-1 Blackbird run to pull within one. Four of Bradley Simpson's 12 points came on consecutive baskets gave the Panthers some breathing room as they extended the lead to eight on four occasions; the latest coming at the 2:05 mark courtesy of a layup by Norron McDonald.
 
In the time remaining, Adelphi was held to just two made free throws while LIU turned up the heat and closed out the game on an impressive 18-2 run, 14 of which came from the charity stripe.
 
Boyd led the game with 24 points. John Calarco and Duane Morgan did their part with 14 and 10 points apiece.
 
Manhattan – Box Score
Two big runs by each team highlighted the first half of the game, but it was the Jaspers that took control of the lead halfway into the first and drove it home the rest of the way to serve the Panthers a 68-74 loss.
 
Adelphi came out guns blazing and got right to business with a 15-5 run to open up the first 5:18 of the game. Simpson was credited with nine of those points, scoring the game's first seven on two layups and a three ball from deep.
 
At 14:22, the Jasper's George Beamon back to back free throws and three pointer sparked a momentum changing 18-0 run to set the Panthers back by seven. Richard Harkins stopped the bleeding when he got his team back on track with a three pointer of his own.
 
With 17 seconds to play in the half, Ranglin connected on a free throw to cut the deficit to three heading into the half.
 
A Ranglin steal resulted in a Cliff Brown layup to start the final segment to pull within one, but it's as close as they would get. The Jaspers would go on to extend their lead to as much as ten points on two occasions, but almost slipped in the final 27 seconds when they found themselves ahead by just four.  However, two late made free throws put the nail in the coffin on the Panther's late run.
 
Ranglin led the attack with 20 points while Simpson posted 17 points and a team leading nine boards. Calarco and Harkins tallied 10 and 11 points respectively with Manhattan's Beamon earning a game high 24 points.
 
The Panthers will open up their season on Wednesday, November 16 when they travel to New Haven, Connecticut to take on the Owls of Southern Connecticut State.