Box Score
Garden City, N.Y. – Earlier this evening, the men's basketball team played host to the Purple Knights of Bridgeport University to close out the final game of the Holiday Classic at the Center for Recreation and Sport. The Panthers fell behind from the get-go and managed to pull even with their counterparts on just one occasion before falling in the final minutes by a score of 52-44. With the loss, Adelphi drops to 3-8 while Bridgeport moves to 4-7 on the year.
Sean Crawford totaled 12 points, three steals and three assists to lead the Panthers.
Bradley Simpson chipped in with seven points and five boards while
Duane Morgan added six points, two blocks and two steals. Anthony LIbroia tallied six points and as many boards while
Chris Ranglin had six points and three assists off the bench.
Ivan Simic posted a game high 14 points while teammate Darian David tallied 10 points and six boards. Additionally, the Purple Knights had four other players register six points. Bridgeport out-rebounded the hosts 52-44 and shot 41.5 percent from the field.
Adelphi came out cold and missed on their first five attempts from the field and fell behind by 10 points within the opening 6:41. Through the first 14 minutes, Crawford and Simpson combined for 10 of the Panther's 12 points with the remainder coming from Morgan on free throws. Down by nine with under five minutes to go in the half, the Brown and Gold went on a 9-2 run to close out the half. Sparked by Libroia's first bucket of the game, scoring support from Calarco,
Ryan DeNicola, Crawford and Brown made it a two point affair as the teams headed in to their respective locker rooms for the intermission.
The contest's first tie came at the 17:15 mark of the second half when Libroia's jumper knotted the game at 25. However, it was short lived as Bridgeport grew their lead back up to 11 in a span of just three and a half minutes.
A Crawford layup gave Adelphi the boost they needed to get back into the game and sparked a 6-0 run that was capped with a Morgan dunk thanks to a hustling Libroia on defense to cause the visitor turnover. However, the Panthers found themselves down by six with 2:55 remaining and resorted to fouling in an attempt to close the gap. However, the Purple Knights iced the game by connecting on five of six attempts from the charity stripe to serve Adelphi their eighth loss of the year.
The Panthers will get back to action on Wednesday, December 19 when they travel east to take on former ECC foe, the Golden Lions of Dowling College. Tipoff is slated for a 7pm start.
