Box Score

Springfield, MA - The men's baskteball team took on the Yellow Jackets of American International College earlier tonight in a Northeast-10 conference contest. After getting off to a slow start, the Panthers held an eight point advantage at the half. However, AIC battled down to the final minutes, but it was too little too late as Adelphi put a hault to the charge and came away with the 63-55 victory. With the win, Adelphi advances to 16-5, 13-4 NE-10 while AIC drops to 6-15, 4-13 in conference play.

For the first time this season, Adelphi sported five players in double digit scoring with Robert Johnson leading the way with 19 points on an efficient 8-10 shooting from the field including going 2-3 from behind the arc. John Calarco did his part with 11 points on 4-9 shooting from the field while Bradley Simpson and Chris Ranglin each totaled 10 points and six boards a piece. Richard Harkins added 10 points and five assists in the win.

For AIC, Spencer Braithwaite scored 17 points, 12 of which came from the three point line while Janek Schmidkunz did his part with 14 points.

The Panthers battled with the hosts for the opening 10 minutes, falling behind by as much as seven at one point but ultimately staying within striking distance. At 10:39, AIC held a two point lead, 17-15. However, the ensuing 5:52 featured an 11-2 run sparked by a Simpson trey and capped with a Johnson layup.

Over the final 4:13 of the half, the Panthers managed to outscore AIC by a bucket, holding their lead steady at eight as the frst frame came to an end.

In the opening two minutes of the final act, back-to-back buckets by Sesoo Ikpah and Braithwaite cut the lead to four. Then, Braithwaite came up big on a three ball to make it a one point game, 36-35. Simpson picked up the offensive board on a missed Johnson jumper and was successful on the putback, but Braithwaite struck yet again with another made shot from behind the arc to tie the game.

With Adelphi up by three at the 13:28 mark, again, Braithwaite drilled a three again to pull even at 42 apiece. Schmidkunz followed that up with a bucket of his own to give AIC the two point lead.

With 5:38 showing on the clock, Brennan Cooper's free throw put the Yellow Jackets up by three. However, the hosts would go cold, missing their final 5-6 attempts from the floor, leaving the door open for the Panthers to come charging through. Adelphi capitalized by draining 4-5 which gave them just what they needed to seal the deal as the final buzzer sounded in their favor.

Up next, the Panthers will travel to Albany, N.Y. to take on the Golden Knights of St. Rose for a Northeast-10 contest on Wednesday, February 8. Tipoff is scheduled for a 7:30 pm start.