Garden City, N.Y. - The visiting Yellow Jackets of American International College (1-3, 0-2 NE-10) pulled within three points, 85-82 with 2:40 to play, but Manny Suarez answered with a triple for Adelphi, doubling the lead and pushing the Panthers to a 94-84 victory at home on Saturday in a Northeast-10 conference clash.

Much of the offensive heavy lifting for Adelphi (3-1, 1-1 NE-10) was done by Jack Laffey, who poured in a career-high 35 points, shooting 12-20 from the field with eight three pointers, adding five rebounds and two assists to round out his statline. He was joined in double figures by Suarez, who almost registered a triple double, scoring 17 points, pulling down 11 misses and blocking six shots and Michael Coffey, who had 20 points. Conor McGuinness was a catalyst all afternoon for the Panthers, racking up a game-high 11 assists to go along with eight points.

AIC took its only lead of the game in the opening minutes on a jumper from Rasheed Howard, 5-2 at the 17:37 mark. The Adelphi offense came alive over the next 11 minutes, ripping off 31 points, while giving up just 14. The Panthers took their largest lead of the first half on back-to-back free throws from Coffey, which ballooned their edge to 15 points, 34-19, with just 6:41 remaining in the first half.

The Yellow Jackets responded with a 21-11 spurt, pulling to within five points on a made three pointer from Juwan Moody with 39 ticks left in the first stanza. However, after an exchange of possessions, a streaking McGuinness found Nick Cambio in the paint for a lay-up as time expired to give the Brown and Gold a seven-point cushion at intermission, 47-40.

Adelphi's hot start continued with the Panthers blitzing AIC with a session-opening 9-2 run, pumping their lead to double figures again, 56-42. Over the ensuing 12 minutes the game see-sawed, with AIC cutting the Brown and Gold lead down to eight five times; nonetheless, each time the hosts responded, sending the advantage back to double digits. However, it appeared that the Yellow Jackets finally broke through, when back-to-back free throws from Tahlib Swan made it a one score game, 77-74 with 5:08 on the game clock.

Coffey had the answer to the test, going straight at his defender and to the basket for an old fashioned three point play, doubling the Adelphi lead, 80-74. The visitors had one more spurt left in the tank, using a Rasheed Howard dunk to get within three points one more time, at the 2:40 mark, 85-82, but a three from Suarez slammed the door, sending Adelphi home with a win, 94-84.

Adelphi returns to the court on Tuesday, November 22 when they travel up Interstate 95 to West Haven, Connecticut for a 7:30 pm meeting with Southwest Division rival New Haven.

Notes:
- Jack Laffey's eight three point makes ties the Adelphi single game record, which is shared by three players, Wayne Nelson (vs. NYIT 12/15/01), Kendell Craig (vs. Mercy 2/20/02) and teammate Michael Coffey (vs. AIC 11/21/15).
- Adelphi has won three of the last five meetings with AIC, including the past three straight. The Panthers' last loss to the Yellow Jackets came on February 10, 2015.
- Manny Suarez's six blocks is two off the program single-game record of eight, which is held by Rich Edwards (vs. Saint Michael's 3/10/01).

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About Adelphi University:
Adelphi University joined the Northeast-10 Conference in the fall of 2009 and in the past seven seasons, has collected 20 regular season conference titles, 24 tournament championships, 29 individual crowns and captured the Northeast-10 Presidents' Cup three times (2013, 2014, and 2016), while winning five NCAA Division II National Championships.

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