Garden City, N.Y. – A tale of two halves turned into a furious comeback for the Adelphi University men's basketball team as the Panthers upended visiting Southern New Hampshire, 77-72, in Northeast-10 Conference action earlier today.

After trailing by 22 points after the first half, the Brown and Gold outscored the Penmen 47-20 in the final 20 minutes on the way to the win. The Panthers continued to chip away at the deficit throughout the second half, leading to Michael Coffey giving Adelphi (15-3, 7-3 NE-10) the 64-63 lead with a layup and one with five minutes remaining. Manny Suarez sank a pair from the charity stripe three minutes later to give the team the lead for good.

Four players scored in double-figures for Adelphi, led by 19 from Suarez to go along with his eight rebounds and three blocks. Coffey connected for 17 points while Tavon Ginyard scored all 14 of his points in the second half to push the comeback. Ryan DeNicola led the squad to a 40-32 rebounding advantage with 16 of his own. Rodney Sanders led all scorers with 25 points for the Penmen (10-7, 6-4 NE-10), while Daquaise Andrews chipped in a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.

After Adelphi built a 16-6 lead behind a three-pointer from Coffey in the first half, Southern New Hampshire quickly erased that deficit and took the lead at 17-16 off a three-point play from Charlie Russo. The Penmen ended the half on a 27-6 scoring run over the final 8:15, and headed into the locker room with a 52-30 advantage. In the opening 20 minutes, Sanders led the attack for the visitors with 17 points and four assists. As a team, Southern New Hampshire shot 59.4 percent (19-for-32) from the field that included seven three-pointers. Coffey and Manny Suarez each tallied nine points for the Brown and Gold.

The shooting touch stayed on the same end of the court, but switched teams as the Panthers shot 51.7 percent (15-for-29) from the field compared to Southern New Hampshire logging a 16.0 shooting percentage (4-for-25) in the second half. Suarez and Ginyard combined for 24 points to lead the effort while the rebounding advantage went 25-13 in favor of the hosts. Laffey drove to the hoop for two with 9:52 remaining to cut the deficit into single digits for the first time, while a triple off his hand cut the lead to just two at 63-61 and set the stage for Coffey's heroics.

Adelphi returns this Wednesday to face Stonehill at 7:30 pm in NE-10 action.

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About Adelphi University Athletics
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past six seasons has collected 16 regular season conference titles, 21 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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