Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The men's basketball team hosted the Deacons of Bloomfield College in the second game of the day at their Holiday Tournament at the Center for Recreation and Sports. It was a see saw battle for the entire 40 minutes with the lead swapping a total of 16 times with 11 ties. The Panthers fell behind slightly early on, but stayed close as the game was neck and neck down to the wire. However, the Deacons made clutch shots on the home stretch and managed to come away with the win. Adelphi snaps an eight game win streak as they dropped the contest, 68-66 and move to 8-2 overall, 6-1 NE-10 while Bloomfield advances to 7-5, 3-1 CACC.

John Calarco was Adelphi's point man with a career high 19 points on 8-11 shooting from the field. Chris Ranglin added 12 points while Duane Morgan had a solid performace, earning his first career double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds to compliment his three blocks. Travis Jordan chipped in with 10 points, a season high, on the strength of 4-5 shooting from the field including going 2-3 from behind the arc.

Terry Hicks kicked off the contest with a three ball to spark an opening 8-2 Deacon run which marked the largest lead for both sides throughout the game. Jordan stepped up and knocked down a jumper and three pointer in back-to-back posessions as he filled in for teammate Bradley Simpson who found himself in foul troble early on.

The Panthers would pull even at 17-17 on the strength of a Calarco trey with assistance from Richard Harkins. A Matthew Hall turnover and Kevin Udo foul sent Morgan to the line where he sunk both attempts from the charity stripe, giving his team their first lead of the game with just over eight minutes to go in the opening act.

Brown came to life in the remaining three minutes, rattling off two three pointers and a layup on three posessions to put his team on a 6-0 run. Each side traded points to keep the game within a bucket's length, but Jordan's third consecutive make and two made free throws by Ranglin gave the Panthers a three point lead heading into halftime.

Calarco quickly got the second frame going with a made shot to give Adelphi their biggest lead of the game at 37-32. The affair continued to go back and forth with each side staying within striking distance of each other. Morgan had three big second half blocks to help keep the Deacons at bay. With the clock reading 12:29, Calarco again found his way into the key and was successful on a layup. Harkins followed up the effort with two free throws to make it a four point game.

Adelphi would hold the lead for the ensuing 5:26 until game high scorer, Matt Wafula sunk two from the charity stripe. With 2:29 to go, the Panthers were up by four. However, with 1:27 remaining, Wafula drained a jumper while Hicks connected from downtown to take the lead. Stace Upshaw-Goree and Hicks each made one of two from the foul line to give the Deacons a three point advantage with 10 seconds to go.

Ranglin was sent to the line on a Wafula foul with one second left. He made the first and intentionally missed the second, hitting the rim with hopes for a rebound and tip in, but Morgan couldn't get a good enough feel for the ball as his tip in attempt was just off the mark as the final buzzer sounded.

The Panthers return to the hardwood tomorrow, Sunday, December 18 at 4:30 pm when they host former East Coast Conference rival, Molloy College in the final game of the Holiday Tournament. St. Rose and Bloomfield will square off at noon with Adelphi's women's team hosting Eckerd at 2:30. All games on the day will be streamed live via www.aupanthers.tv. Also, be sure to follow the action via twitter (@AUPanthers).