Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. – Earlier this evening, the men's basketball team hosted the Owls of Southern Connecticut State University in the regular season finale. When halftime hit, the Panthers found themselves down by five and would pull within three in the second half, but a 16-4 Owl run put a stop to Adelphi's quest for their 20^th win of the season. Falling by a score of 76-65, Adelphi moves to 19-7, 16-6 NE-10 and gives them a piece of the Northeast-10 regular season title as they share the top spot with Franklin Pierce. Southern Connecticut moves their record to 14-12, 11-10 NE-10.
 
The Panthers were led by Richard Harkins' 13 points, nine of which came from behind the arc. Norron McDonald came up big with 12 points and five boards in 17 minutes of action while Robert Johnson chipped in with 11 points. Chris Ranglin just missed out on a double-double, posting a game high 12 rebounds to go along with his nine points. As a team, Adelphi shot 81.8 percent from the charity stripe (9-11) and 42.4 percent from the field.
 
For Southern Connecticut, there were four players in double digit scoring with Trevon Hamlet leading the way with a game high 19 points. Greg Langston had a double-double with 10 boards and 16 points while Tylon Smith and Jose Cruz did their part with 12 and 10 points respectively. The Owls shot 45.1 percent from the field and connected on 23-27 attempts from the foul line.
 
Ky'Ron Fitzgerald kicked the game off with a trey on the Panther's first possession, but it was a slow moving affair through the first 15 minutes. With the clock showing 14:48, Adelphi held a 9-4 advantage. However, over the ensuing 3:27, both teams went cold and missed a combine five shots and totaled nine turnovers.
 
Hamlet broke the silence and made good on layup and free throw after the shot to make it a two point game. Smith followed that up and tied the game on two made foul shots just 30 seconds later. Capping a 13-2 Owl run was Cruz with a layup at 7:21 to give his team a six point lead, their largest up to that moment. The Panthers regained the lead with 5:37 remaining, but were outscored 13-7 in the final minute to head into the halftime down by five.
 
In the final frame, McDonald pulled down a missed John Calarco shot and put it back up for what would be his final bucket of the game to cut the deficit to three. However, over the next 5:55, Adelphi fell victim to a 16-4 Owl run and found themselves behind by 15 with just under 10 minutes left to play.
 
Despite the Panthers shooting 10-19 from the field over the final nine minutes, Southern Connecticut maintained their lead, letting it slip to just seven points on two occasions late in the game, but it's as far as Adelphi would get.
 
The Owls made 23-27 foul shots in the second half and iced the game by making 15 of their 17 attempts in the final 2:40.
 
The Panthers close out the regular season with a share of the top conference spot with Franklin Pierce. They will enter the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament on Sunday, February 26 as they host the winner of the Pace-New Haven first round match-up at 1pm.
 
Watch the game live on www.aupanthers.tv or catch live twitter feeds by following @AUPanthers.