Box Score

Albany, N.Y. - The men's basketball team traveled to Albany, N.Y. for a Northeast-10 Conference contest against the Golden Knights of the College of St. Rose. The game was evenly contested and close throughout most of night, but the Panthers allowed a mid-second half run that set them back by 11 points, a deficit that proved to be insurmountable. They pulled within a single point in the final minutes, but could not get over the hump as they dropped the decision, 61-65. With the loss, Adelphi moves to 16-6, 13-5 NE-10 and slip to second in the conference for the first time this year while St. Rose's record stands at 5-17, 5-13 NE-10.

Robert Johnson had a game high 23 points on 8-17 shooting from the field and a 5-5 performance from the charity stripe. Richard Harkins had a productive evening, posting 12 points, six rebounds and five assists while Bradley Simpson tallied 10 points and five boards.

As a team, the Panthers shot 46 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from behind the arc, and made 81.8 percent of their free throw attempts.
For St. Rose, Brian Hanuschak led the way with 14 points and eight boards while teammate Dominykas Milka had 12 points to go along with his five rebounds. Kareem Thomas and Sheldon Griffin posted 11 and 10 points respectively and combined for 10 rebounds. The Golden Knights picked up 39 missed shots and also hit 81.8 percent of their charity stripe attempts.

The opening 6:17 proved to be a close affair with St. Rose going ahead from the get go, but never getting any further than four points away. Andre Pope hit a trey and followed it up with a jumper to give his team a seven point advantage, their biggest of the game. I was not until Harkins picked up a steal and made good on his layup that Adelphi took their first lead of the game with 3:25 left to play in the half.

In the final minute, Griffin made two free throws to knot the score at 26, and then another Pope three pointer at the buzzer gave St. Rose a three point lead heading into halftime.

In the final act, Cliff Brown's fast break layup gave Adelphi the one point advantage early on, but it would be the last they would have the upper hand. With the Panthers down by three at 15:08, St. Rose would build on their lead by using a 12-4 run over the ensuing 2:02 to hold an 11 point cushion.

However, Adelphi fired back with a 13-3 run of their own on the spark of a Johnson trifecta. With just a tick over the one minute mark, Simpson drained a jumper on a feed from Harkins to make it a two point game. As time wound down, Rob Gutierrez was sent to the line after a John Calarco foul and sunk both attempts with just four seconds left.

Harkins responded with two free throws of his own to keep the game within two points reach, but Dominykas accomplished the same feet to ultimately ice the game as time expired.

The Panthers return to action on Saturday, February 11 when they host the Greyhounds of Assumption College at 3:30 at the Center for Recreation and Sports. Watch the game live at www.aupanthers.tv or follow twitter for updates throughout the game @AUPanthers.