Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. – The Adelphi men's basketball team snapped a four-game losing streak earlier this afternoon with a 64-51 win over Philadelphia University in the first game of their Holiday Classic at the Center for Recreation and Sports. With the win, the Panthers improve to 3-7 overall while the Rams slip to 6-3.
 
The Panthers, who never trailed in the contest, were led by a quartet of players in double figures. John Calarco scored 18 points on 6-11 shooting from the field while Duane Morgan chipped in with 12 points to go along with his six boards and two blocks. Bradley Simpson added 11 points and seven rebounds and Anthony Libroia totaled 10 points; six of which came from behind the arc. Cliff Brown and Chris Ranglin combined for 11 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in the win.
 
For the Rams, Jim Connolly led all scorers with a game high 25 points, drilling four from three point land while Andre Gibbs tallied 12 points on an economical 5-9 shooting from the field. TJ Huggins did his part with nine points while Tyree Harris pulled down six rebounds; five of which were offensive.
 
Simpson put in back-to-back buckets to open the scoring and would prove to be the hot hand for the Panthers in the early going as he scored seven of the Brown and Gold's first nine points. Adelphi took a dominating 13-2 lead at the 15-minute mark capped behind a layup from Calarco, forcing the visitors to use a timeout and regroup.
 
The Rams would manage to get five points back over the next 3:49, but back-to-back triples from Calarco and a layup from Brown gave Adelphi their largest lead of the half at 21-9 with just under six to play. The teams would trade buckets over the next four minutes, but a layup from Simpson at the 1:50 mark pushed Adelphi's lead back up to 12 at 27-15.
 
Another score from Morgan at 1:14 gave the hosts a 29-15 lead, their largest of the half, and a last-second three from the corner by Calarco gave the Brown and Gold a 31-17 lead entering halftime. Calarco shot over 70 percent from the field in the half and led all scorers with 13 points.
 
Philadelphia scored four quick points to open the second half but Libroia connected on a three for his first bucket of the contest, giving the Panthers a 34-21 advantage with 16:42 to go. Ranglin followed with a bucket of his own just moments later to stretch Adelphi's lead to 15.
 
The Rams chipped away at the double digit scoring differential, but an authoritative dunk from Morgan off of a pass from Simpson put the Brown and Gold back on top by 15 at the 10 minute mark. Libroia connected on another three and Morgan hit a two point jumper to give the Panthers their largest lead of the game to that point, 51-33, with 8:17 remaining.
 
The Rams would go on a 10-0 scoring run behind nine points from Connolly to close the gap to 51-43. A pair of foul shots from Libroia and a Ranglin triple would hold the Panther's double digit cushion to 56-45 with just under six minutes left to play.
 
The final five minutes was a display of back-and-forth scoring.  Although the Rams were able to pull within eight, they were forced to foul down the stretch. However, the Panthers would connect on four of five from the charity stripe to hold off the charge and come away with their third victory.
 
The Panthers return to action on Sunday, December 16^th when they close out their Holiday Tournament on against the University of Bridgeport. Tipoff will follow the conclusion of the St. Rose, Philadelphia contest which begins at 1:30 pm.