Box Score

Manchester, NH – Earlier this evening, the men's basketball team took on the Penmen of Southern New Hampshire University in a Northeast-10 Conference matchup. In an evenly contested game that featured over a dozen lead changes, the Panthers came out on top of a hard fought battle that went into overtime to determine the winner. Courtesy of senior John Calarco's game winning jumper with six seconds left, Adelphi earned their 10^th win by way of a 65-64 victory and got back over .500 with a 10-9 overall record, 7-6 NE-10 mark while the Penmen move to 11-6, 7-6 NE-10.
 
Four of Adelphi's five starters scored in double digits with senior Bradley Simpson leading the way 15 points and seven boards. Duane Morgan made the most of his 17 minutes of play with 11 points, two blocks and seven rebounds while Cliff Brown was an economical 5-6 from the field for 10 points. Calarco's game winner was just two of his 12 points in the win. Anthony Librioa had eight points on the evening to couple his game, and career high seven assists.
 
For the Penmen, Mike Stys led the way with 16 points which included a perfect 6-6 from the foul line. BJ Cardarelli and Rodney Sanders had an even split of 28 points while Elijah Bonsignore came off the bench and chipped in with 12 points.
 
First half action included five ties and 10 lead changes as either side was able to go ahead by more than five points. Librioa's first three points came on the opening possession when he knocked down a triple for the early advantage. The squads traded the lead seven times over the opening 5:26 until Bonsignore's bucket sparked a 6-0 run that gave SNHU a five point cushion; the largest of the half.
 
Adelphi responded with Libroia's second triple of the game to bring it back to a two point affair. With 5:34 remaining in the opening act, Aleksander Dobrovic sunk two of his attempts at the charity stripe for the tie and the go-ahead point to retake the lead. Sean Crawford connected on a triple with 20 seconds to go but Sanders's layup with time expiring gave the hosts a two point cushion heading into halftime at 26-24.
 
The see-saw battle continued through the second. The Panthers found themselves down by three at the 12:03 mark after Phillip Tripodakis sunk a layup, but Morgan responded with a lay in of his own to bring the game back to one.  With 3:22 showing on the clock, Bonsignore found the bottom of the net on a jumper to give the Penmen a five point cushion but would be short lived.
 
Down by three, Morgan took matters into his own hands, drove to the basket and was fouled en route to the and-one. He successfully converted on his attempt from the foul line to tie the game at 55 with 1:07 left to play in regulation.
 
On the ensuing possession, Sanders missed an attempt from downtown, but then Libroia missed his jumper on the other end of the court. With the ball in the host's hands for the final play, Sanders' last second try at the buzzer was off the mark to force overtime.
 
The Panthers wasted no time getting to work with the extra five minutes on the clock and took it right toward the Penmen. Calaro sank a jumper and converted the three point play after he was fouled to give Adelphi a three point advantage. A layup by Bonsignore was followed up by two makes at the foul line from CJ Marriro to return the lead to SNHU at 60-59.
 
With 15 seconds left, Sanders converted on his two tries at the charity stripe to make it a 64-63 game in favor of the Penmen. On the Panther's final possession, Calarco, on an assist from Libroia, nailed what would be the game winner with six seconds left. Stys' last second shot at the buzzer was off the mark as the Panthers closed the books on their 10^th win of the season.
 
The men's basketball team will hit the court once again on Tuesday, January 29 when they travel up to Lowell, Massachusetts for an NE-10 Conference contest against the Riverhawks of UMass Lowell. Tipoff is scheduled for a 7:30pm start.
 
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