Garden City, N.Y. -- In a game that saw a total of nine ties and 15 lead changes, the Adelphi University men's basketball team came up short in a shootout against the visiting Merrimack College Warriors on Saturday afternoon inside the Center for Recreation and Sport, falling by an 81-77 final.

Manny Suarez scored a team-high 24 points for Adelphi (14-6, 7-5 NE10) in the setback, hauling in 17 rebounds and blocking six shots for an effective night on both ends of the floor. Michael Coffey joined him with 21 points, while Jack Laffey scored 12 and Austin Beech facilitated Adelphi on both ends of the floor with eight assists and four blocks. Merrimack (13-6, 8-5 NE10) had four starters score in double figures, with Ryan Boutler scoring a team-high 26 and Juvaris Hayes just missing a triple-double with 17 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds.

After nearly five minutes of first-half action, a Coffey three established a four-point, 13-9 lead for Adelphi in the early going. However, the Warriors quickly responded and gained momentum as the first half went on, putting together a 25-14 run together over the next 10 minutes that saw them open up a lead of nine, 34-25, with 3:42 remaining. From there, however, Suarez, Laffey, Coffey and Nick Cambio all put up points for the Panthers to cut the gap to two with 49 seconds to play, but it was the Warriors' Hayes who put in the final bucket of the half to lead 37-33 at the break.

The second half started squarely in Adelphi's favor as the Panthers tied the score at 39-39 on a Suarez layup just 2:37 in, as the run extended to 12-4 to make it a four-point, 45-41 Panther lead on a Suarez triple. The Brown and Gold led by four on three ensuing occasions, only to see the Warriors tie things up at 55-55 and take their own 59-55 lead on the back of a 7-0 spurt with 9:02 to play.

From there, the Warriors held a lead for much of the duration, only the Panthers tie and take a one-point lead at 62-61 with 7:30 to go as Beech sunk a pair from the line. The Warriors' lead grew to six, 70-64, as they scored nine of the next 11 points from the field with 4:44 to play, but a 6-0 run the other way capped by a Suarez dunk again tied things up at 70-70 with 3:27 on the clock, and he sunk the and one out of the media timeout to give the Panthers a 71-70 lead.

However, that proved to be Adelphi's last lead of the contest, as Merrimack scored 11 of the last 17 points to hang on to a big conference victory, as a Ryan Boulter three with Adelphi trailing by one proved to be the dagger. 

The Panthers return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 24th when they host Saint Anselm College in a 7:30 pm NE10 contest.

NOTES
- The Panthers currently sit in fourth place in the NE10 Southwest Division, two games behind a three-way tie for first between Le Moyne, Saint Rose and Southern Connecticut State.
- Beech sets a new career-best mark with four blocks, while Suarez tied a career-high with six.

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About Adelphi Athletics:
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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