Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. – The men's basketball team played host to the Skyhawks of Stonehill College earlier tonight at the Center for Recreation and Sports. The Panthers found themselves down by 12 with just over five minutes left in the game, but a vicious charge in the latter stages of the meeting brought the game within one with just seconds left. Adelphi's Cliff Brown managed to get a reverse layup off as the final buzzer sounded, but his attempt rolled around the rim and fell slightly outside the net as time expired with the scoreboard reading 55-54 in favor of the Skyhawks. With the loss, Adelphi shares the top spot in the conference with Stonehill as both teams have records of 13-5, 10-4 NE-10.

Robert Johnson led the Panthers with 14 points courtesy of a perfect 6-6 night from the charity stripe to go along with his seven rebounds while John Calarco posted 13 points on 6-11 shooting from the field. Richard Harkins also posted double digit scoring with 10 points and a game high six assists. Chris Ranglin chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds on the night.

For the Skyhawks, Andre Tongo recorded a game high 21 points on an efficient 6-8 performance on the floor with Adam Fazzini doing his part with 14 points while teammate Jack Cole pulled down 10 boards.

It was a low scoring affair in the opening act with Stonehill topping Adelphi, 25-20 in the opening 20 minutes. Both sides struggled from the field as each team shot fewer than 30 percent from the field. The Skyhawks led by as much as 10 in the late stages of the half, but the Panthers used a 10-5 run over the final 4:26 to account for half of their first half points.

In the second frame at the 15:39 mark, a John Calarco layup gave Adelphi their first lead since Johnson put in the game's opening bucket. However, it was erased just before the half's midway point when Tongo drained a three ball to spark an 18-4 Skyhawk run.

With 3:47 left to play, the Panthers found themselves down by 10 points. A Simpson free throw followed up by a Cliff Brown layup cut the lead to seven. Tongo responded with a bucket of his own to keep the Skyhawk advantage at nine.

Back to back free throws by Johnson and a big triple from Harkins made it a four point game with 1:19 showing on the clock. Sam Markle made good on two tries from the foul line, but Calarco connected on a trey with 51 seconds remaining to cut the lead to three.

Brian Hamor sent Johnson to the line for two more free throws where he converted both, making it a one point game. Adam Fazzini responded with two of his own, but Johnson was quick down the court off the inbound and scored on a layup to make it a one point game with nine seconds left.

In the final series, Hamor came up shy on two free throws but had another two tries courtesy of an offensive board. With five seconds left, he again missed both attempts, resulting in a Simpson rebound. With no time to waste, he dished it to Harkins who connected with a streaking Brown down the left side toward the basket.

Catching the ball, he took a power dribble under the hoop and went for the reverse layup. The ball slowly came off the, rolled slowly halfway around the rim and then in dramatic fashion, fell on the outside of the rim as the final buzzer sounded in favor of the Skyhawks.

Head Coach Dom Savino and his squad return to action on Saturday, January 28 when they travel Manchester, New Hampshire to take on St. Anselm.