Garden City, N.Y. - The #2 seeded men's basketball team will host the #3 Skyhawks of Stonehill College on Wednesday, February 29 at 7pm at the Center for Recreation and Sports in the semi-final of the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament. The Panthers made it through the quarter-final after defeating #10 New Haven 54-51 on Saturday.
In what is sure to be a defensive skirmish, the Panthers will look to not only make it back to the Northeast-10 Championship for the third straight year, but also avenge their loss to Stonehill (19-8, 15-7 NE-10) from earlier this season. In their first and only meeting of the year back on January 25, the Skyhawks visited Garden City and held off a furious Panther charge in the late stages of the game. In a last second attempt, a court-length pass to
Cliff Brown, who attempted a reverse layup and had the crowd waiting in awe as the ball rolled around the iron and fell off just outside the rim as time expired in favor of the South Easton, Massachusetts team, 55-54.
Winning Trend
Since the loss to Stonehill, Adelphi has won seven of their last nine games. They closed out the regular season with a 19-7 overall record, and 16-6 mark in conference play and shared the regular season title with Franklin Pierce. Because they were defeated by the Ravens earlier, Adelphi was awarded a #2 seed while Franklin Pierce earned the top seed.
Defying Odds
In the last three seasons in the NE-10, Adelphi has been ranked seventh, ninth and seventh in the preseason coaches poll. In the last two years, Adelphi has made it to the Conference Championship and won it last year to earn an NCAA Tournament berth.
Defensive Prowess
The Panthers have prided themselves on defensive excellence since the days of George Faherty in the 1950's and the Dom Savino era is no different. Currently, Adelphi ranks 10th in all of Division II in scoring defense, holding opponents to an average of 59.9 points per game. Additionally, they rank 20th in the country in field goal percentage defense, allowing teams to shoot just 40 percent from the field. There have been just three teams who have been able to score more than 70 points against the Panthers this year while they have held 12 teams to under 60 points including keeping Dowling to just 38 on November 19, 2011.
Balanced Scoring
Robert Johnson, a senior member of the team and second team All-Conference honoree, leads the Panthers with 13.4 points per game.
Bradley Simpson and
Chris Ranglin are the only others that are averaging in the double digits. On 22 occasions, Adelphi has had at least 10 point contributions from three players or more, proving that they are versatile from their starters to the bench.
Hot Hands
Bradley Simpson is currently tied for first in the Northeast-10 in field goal percentage, shooting 59.7 percent from the floor. In the quarterfinals against New Haven, the Australian native gave Adelphi the spark they needed to break a nearly eight minute opening scoreless drought and went on to make all five of his attempts. In the last six games, he is shooting an impressive 78 percent (32-41) and is averaging 12 points per game.
Game Changer
Over the last two games,
Richard Harkins is averaging 14 points and shooting 50 percent from the field. In the first round of the NE-10 Tournament, he scored 13 of his 15 points in the final 7:50 of the game, came up with clutch shots and created open looks for teammates, ultimately leading to the Panther's victory.
Scouting the Skyhawks
On paper, Stonehill is nearly a mirror image of Adelphi. They are holding opponents to just 57.8 points per game, which is fourth best in the country, and rank 16
th in field goal percentage defense. In both categories, they lead Adelphi by the narrowest margins. They are just a single game behind the Panthers in both overall and conference records and are scoring just 3.1 ppg more as a team with three players averaging over ten points per contest.
Too Close to Call
Three of the last four meetings between the two have been decided by a combine five points. Stonehill leads the series 13-6. Adelphi's last win against them came in the Northeast-10 quarter finals on March 2, 2010 when they defeated the top ranked Skyhawks 59-58 as a nine seed.
Both squads are the top two teams defensively in the Northeast-10 Conference. Adelphi's scoring defense ranks 10
th in the country while Stonehill ranks sixth. Additionally, the Skyhawks boast the 16
th best field goal percentage defense while the Panthers are 20
th in the nation.
