Feb. 19, 2011

Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's basketball team played host to regionally ranked American International College (AIC) on Saturday, February 19 in a critical conference contest. The Panthers shot 81 percent from the charity stripe, securing a 69-63 win over the second ranked Yellowjackets. With the win Adelphi improves to 16-9 overall and 12-9 in the NE-10, while AIC falls to 19-7 and 15-6 in conference action.

Richard Byrd led the way for Adelphi with 19 points, including going 6-6 from the free throw line in the final 21 seconds to secure the win. Richard Harkins also had a big game, scoring 17 points to go along with seven assists, while Bradley Simpson also reached double figures with 11 points and six rebounds. David Akinyooye led all players with a game-high 13 rebounds and paired that effort with nine points.

Adelphi had their largest lead of the game, 58-47, with 2:45 on the clock when AIC used a 11-2 run, capped by a Allen Aragbaye triple with 38 ticks left to pull within two points, 60-58. However, the Panthers would hit on nine of 10 free throw attempts, including Bryd's six for six effort to preserve the victory, 69-63.

The first half was a back and forth affair that saw the lead change hands six times and the score knotted twice, the largest lead of the half went to Adelphi, as the Panthers took five point lead, 14-9 on a Harkins three with 11:25 on the board. The Yellowjackets would take a four point lead at the 7:54 mark, before entering the half trailing by one, 22-21.

AIC took a brief lead in the second frame, 23-22, before a 11-2 Panther spurt, capped by a Byrd triple, gave Adelphi an eight point lead. The Panthers pushed the bulge to double digits for the first time with 13:56 on the clock, courtesy of a Simpson three-point play, 38-28.

The Yellowjackets battled back, pulling too within one, 44-43 with 7:53 left in the contest, but Adelphi used a 12-2 barrage to push the margin back to double digits, 56-45, before eventually using foul shots to seal the victory.

Adelphi closes out the regular season on Wednesday, February 23 when they travel to West Haven, Connecticut to take on former East Coast Conference rival turned NE-10 foe, New Haven at 7:30 pm.