Garden City, NY – Bently overcame an 11-point halftime deficit to upend the Adelphi University men's basketball team 75-67 earlier this evening during a Northeast-10 Conference game inside the Center for Recreation and Sport.
Junior
Anthony Libroia scored a game-high 19 points for Adelphi (4-11/1-8 NE-10) while
Duane Morgan contributed 15 points and seven rebounds along with a block and a steal. The Panthers shot 35.7 percent (10-for-28) in the second half after shooting 48.3 percent (14-for-29) in the first.
Bentley (10-6/5-5 NE-10) had four starters in double-figures with Tyler McFarland leading the way behind a 17 point and 10 rebound "double-double". JP Koury added 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Opposite of the Panthers, the Falcons improved to a 53.6 percent (15-for-28) shooting in the second half that compared to just 37.5 percent (9-for-24) in the opening period.
The Panthers jumped out to a 7-0 lead before eventually creating a 13-point lead twice in the first 20 minutes at 17-4 with 10:54 remaining and again at 28-15 at the 6:37 mark. Morgan drove the lane for an emphatic dunk during the run to keep the momentum in favor of the Panthers with a 23-13 lead.
Libroia had the touch from beyond the arc by shooting 4-for-5 towards all 12 of his points while Morgan added 10 points and four rebounds.
Ryan DeNicola helped the Brown and Gold establish a 20-12 rebounding advantage with six boards. Koury paced the Falcons with eight points that included 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.
The Falcons continued to decrease the Adelphi advantage in the second half, eventually taking their first lead of 53-52 at the 9:30 mark to cap off a 7-0 run.
Damon Coleman put the Brown and Gold back up by four less than a minute later with a long 3-pointer, however, Bentley again overtook the lead and built to as large as 10 points with 39 seconds remaining.
McFarland scored 14 of his points and hauled in seven rebounds while playing all 20 minutes in the second half. Keegan Hyland posted 10 points and four assists as the Falcons shot 8-for-13 (61.5 percent) from beyond the arc. Bentley also utilized nine offensive rebounds to create 13 second chance points to aid the comeback win.
The Panthers are back on the road for two straight starting this Saturday with a 3:30 pm league matchup at Assumption. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 pm in Worcester, MA.
