Garden City N.Y. – The Adelphi men's basketball team completed their fifth Northeast-10 matchup against New Haven at the Center for Recreation and Sport on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers stayed close early, trailing 31-28 at the half, but fell 71-56. The Brown and Gold slip to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the NE-10 as the visitors improve to 3-3 season and 2-2 in conference.
Leading the on the offensive end for the Panthers was
Michael Coffey, with 17 points.
Justin Jenkins was just three points back with 14 points on the afternoon.
Ryan DeNicola just missed posting a double-double with 7 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Boris Fodoup and
Duane Morgan chipped in a combined 13 rebounds in the loss.
Early in the first half, back-and-forth rally scoring kept the contest tight. The Chargers opened the half with a layup from Samir McDaniels at 19:18. But, It didn't take long before the Panthers got themselves on the board with a Morgan layup. New Haven had a slight lead, 10-9 at 17:02, before a layup by DeNicola, a minute and a half later put the Panthers on top. However, the Chargers answered back with a McDaniels triple, reclaiming the lead.
Adelphi fired back with a Jenkins jumper and found themselves in possession of a three points advantage, 18-15 with just under 11 minutes to play. The first stanza would remain tight and the back and forth affair continued in the final two minutes, until two New Haven free throws with 1:03 left in the half sent Adelphi into the locker room trailing by three, 31-28.
The second half kicked off with a Jemal Mosley jumper that pushed the visitors margin to five, but at the 17:51 mark a Coffey three pointer slashed the Charger edge to just three, 34-31. The hosts kept the pressure on, closing to within two points, 39-37, on a Jenkins make with 14:39 left on the clock, but a quick, 7-1 New Haven spurt put the Chargers ahead by eight.
Adelphi would get as close as six on a Coffey free throw, 47-41, however, New Haven used a 7-0 run to take a 13 point lead, 54-41 with 6:48 remaining in the contest and never relinquished the lead, handing the Panthers a 71-56 loss.
The Panthers return to action at the Center for Recreation and Sport on Thursday, December 11 when they take on a non-conference opponent in Goldey-Beacom College at 7:30 p.m.
