Box Score

Garden City, N.Y. – The men's basketball team took on the Rams of Philadelphia University in the second game of Adelphi's Holiday Classic earlier this afternoon. It proved to be a back and forth affair that came down to the wire, but the Panthers managed to outlast the Rams on the final play of the game to earn their second straight victory by a score of 58-57. With the win, the Brown and Gold move to 3-6, 1-4 NE-10 while Philadelphia's record now stands at 7-4, 4-1 CACC.
 
The Panthers had four players in double figures and two with double-doubles. Led by sophomore Ryan DeNicola, the forward scored 14 points on a perfect 7-7 from the field while pulling down 10 rebounds in the process. Classmate Anthony Libroia also impressed with 12 points, 10 of which came in the second half, on 3-5 shooting from down town to go along with his game and career high 11 assists. Duane Morgan and Boris Fodouop each chipped in with 13 points apiece while combining for 10 boards. As a team, the Panthers shot 48.9 percent from the field and made six of their 15 attempts from behind the arc while holding Philadelphia to just 32.8 percent shooting and under 25 percent from three-point land.
 
After two ties within the opening four possessions, a layup by Fodouop at the 16:17 mark gave the Panthers a one point lead which they would hold on to for nearly the entire duration of the half. The Panthers used a 7-0 run sparked by two free throws from Morgan, a lay in by DeNicola and a triple from Greg Davis to build their biggest lead of the first at 18-9.
 
However, Philadelphia slowly began chopping away at the deficit, turning a nine point hole into a tie game at the 2:31 mark thanks to a layup by Peter Alexis. After a missed Anthony Librioa jumper, the Rams took their first lead since the 16:42 mark after Derek Johnson connected on a bucket in the paint. As the shot clock wound down on the ensuing possession, Morgan drilled a three-ball to regain the lead, setting the score at 31-30 in favor of the hosts which is how the two teams would head into halftime.
 
In the second half that featured 12 lead changes, neither team was able to get ahead by more than four points. Erupting for 10 points, Librioa helped the Panthers stay even with their counterparts by going 3-4 from downtown and snagging seven rebounds and dishing out five assists. The see-saw affair began in the early stages of the half and ran through the end of the game. Adelphi faced a three point deficit with 6:09 left to play, but back-to-back buckets by Morgan and Denicola gave their team the one point advantage.
 
It would be the last made field goal of the rest of the game as the final 3:58 was scoreless after Philadelphia missed their final five attempts from the floor. Alexis grabbed a missed three-point attempt by teammate Andre Gibbs to set up the final possession. Down by one, the Rams used two consecutive time outs to set up for one final play. After inbounding the ball, solid Panther defense prevailed as Nick Schlitzer's off-balance attempt at the buzzer fell just shy of the mark, resulting in the Brown and Gold's second straight victory.
 
Up Next
The Panther close out the 2013 calendar year and the Holiday Classic tomorrow when they host Bloomfield College at 3:30pm. A free HD webcast of the game will be streamed here while live stats will also be available. Additionally, you can catch all the action during the game on Twitter by following @AUPanthers.