Garden City, N.Y. -- The Adelphi University men's basketball team held off a game challenge from the University of New Haven on Saturday afternoon at the Center for Recreation and Sport, edging a critical 85-81 victory in the Panthers' pursuit for the Northeast-10 Conference playoffs.

Behind 20-plus afternoons from Michael Coffey (25) and Jack Laffey (23), the Panthers (17-9, 10-8 NE10) created a two-game cushion between themselves and the Chargers (12-12, 7-10 NE10) in the Northeast-10's Southwest Division as Adelphi currently sits in fourth place and the Chargers in fifth in playoff projections. Conor McGuinness also poured in 15 points for the Brown and Gold in the win, on an efficient 5-7 shooting and a perfect 3-3 from deep. New Haven had five players score at least 10 points, including a pair of bench efforts, with Mihailo Vasic leading the charge with 24 points on 11-15 shooting.

While the Panthers scored the first six points of the game, the Chargers quickly hit back to knot the score for the first time at 10-10, and it was the visitors who built momentum as the half went on, twice taking a seven-point lead with under 10 minutes to play and increasing the edge to a game-high nine, 21-12, on a Danny Upchurch jumper with 7:54 until halftime. The lead was gone quicker than it came, however, as Adelphi hit back quickly with the help of sharp shooting from McGuinnes and Coffey -- and the guards sank three triples from behind the arc in an 11-2 scoring run to knot the game at 23-23 in just over two minutes later. 

The Chargers' last lead of the half came at 27-23, as a 10-0 Adelphi run put the Panthers up six in the waning minutes of the half. However, New Haven wasn't done yet, scoring seven of the last 10 points in the final 1:52 to shrink the lead to one possession, 36-34 at the break.

Unlike the opening half, which saw just three ties and two lead changes, the second half was close for the duration, with the two sides swapping the advantage a whopping 14 times and  tying another seven by the final buzzer. Neither side could edge ahead by a margin greater than five over the first 15 minutes of the second, as a McGuinness triple and two shots from Laffey at the line put Adelphi ahead, 70-65, after the 10th tie of the game. From then on, the Chargers never managed to peg the Panthers back even, only closing to within one at 72-71, before a Coffey made three restored a two-possession lead that stood for nearly all of the final 3:25.

The Brown and Gold are back in action for the regular season finale against Le Moyne, in the CRS at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 15. Prior to the start of the game, the team will honor its three seniors: Chris Millender, John Ferguson and Christopher John.

NOTES
- Millender hauled in 12 rebounds in the win, while Suarez chipped in 11, despite both being held to single digits in scoring.
- The Panthers took nearly twice the number of shots from behind the arc (12-25) as New Haven (6-15) in the win.

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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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