Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's basketball team closed out the 2011 edition of the Adelphi Holiday Tournament against local rival Molloy College on Sunday, December 18 in the Center for Recreation and Sports. Adelphi shot 66 percent in the first half, building a 38-28 halftime lead on the way to a 80-69 non-conference win. With the victory the Panthers will enter 2012 with a record of 9-2 overall, while the Lions fall to 4-7.

Bradley Simpson led the Panthers with a career-high 20 points on 9-10 shooting from the field and added four rebounds, while John Calarco chipped in 15 points, including eight from the free throw line (8-10). Cliff Brown and Chris Ranglin also reached double figures with 13 and 12 apiece and Brown added a game-high nine rebouds. Duane Morgan also pulled down nine misses and had eight points, while Richard Harkins had a strong all around game with nine points, nine assists and three rebounds.

Adelphi trailed by four with just 30 seconds off the clock in the first and continued to trail midway through the period when a Vukasin Vlajic made free throw put Molloy on top, 19-17. However, a Brown jumper with 7:28 on the clock sparked a 21-9 run over the final seven minutes of action that saw Adelphi enter the locker room with a 38-28 bulge and included eight of  Simpson's 20 points.

A Simpson made free throw gave Adelphi it's largest lead of the second half, 44-30, just 1:44 into the action. Molloy would bounce back and use a 11-2 run, that was capped by a John Petrucelli triple to pull within five points, 46-41 with 14:37 on the clock, but that was as close as the Lions would get.

Adelphi responded with a quick 8-0 run, getting four points from Morgan, including a run starting dunk, to push the lead back to double digits, 54-41, with 10:16 left in the action. From that point Molloy would get no closer then eight points, before finally falling, 80-69.

The Brown and Gold return to action on January 3 when they travel to North Andover, Massachusetts to take on Northeast-10 opponent Merrimack College at 7:30 pm.