Flushing, N.Y. - The Adelphi University men's basketbal team started off the 2015-16 campaign on right foot with an 85-65 win against Dowling in the ECC/NE-10 Challenge hosted by Queens College this evening.

Senior Anthony Libroia led in the scoring column behind 16 points by shooting 7-of-9 from the field while sophomore Manny Suarez posted a "double-double" of 11 points and 13 rebounds in addition to four blocks. As a team, the Brown and Gold shot 15-for-34 (44.1 percent) from beyond the arc with Suarez and Coffey each connecting on a team-best three each.

Evan Maxwell led four Golden Lions in double-digits with 15 points along with five rebounds. Despite four players in double-figures, Dowling shot 32.4 percent (23-for-71) from the field.

An 11-0 run in the early stages of the first half propelled the Panthers ahead 19-8, capped off by 3-pointer from Suarez just a little more than five minutes into the contest. A Maxell layup cut the Adelphi lead to 30-26 with 6:44 left in the first half, however, another quick spurt by the Panthers pushed the lead back to double-digits at 36-26 on the back of a 3-pointer from Jack Laffey. The Brown and Gold carried that momentum to a 45-28 lead at halftime.

Libroia led all scores by shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from the field for 12 points while Suarez registered nine points and a like number of rebounds in the first 20 minutes. Out of Adelphi's 17 made field goals in the first half, nine were from downtown.

A Coffey trey just over three minutes into the second period pushed the Brown and Gold to a a 22-point lead at 54-32 before matching that margin two minutes later on a Ryan DeNicola layup to make the score 61-39. The lead grew to as large 28 points twice for Adelphi, including a Nick Cambio layup to make it 71-43 with 10:22 left in regulation. Dowling was able to cut the deficit to 16 with less than three minutes left, however, the Brown and Gold margin proved to be too much to overcome.

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About Adelphi Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past six seasons has collected 15 regular season conference titles, 20 tournament championships, 27 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 President's Cup twice (2013 and 2014), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

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