Pleasantville, N.Y. — Head coach Dave Duke and the #15 Adelphi men's basketball team traveled up to Westchester on Wednesday night to take on #16 Pace with a chance to clinch the Northeast-10 regular season title.
The first half started extremely slow for the Panthers with the team not making their first field goal until 13:29 of the first half with a three pointer from Patrick Burke. Luckily for Adelphi, the game did not get away from them as the bucket put the score at 12-4, Pace.
Matthew Price then injected some life into the offense off of the bench, hitting a three ball of his own. The 'Cats offense came alive in the next three minutes as a 13-2 run tied the ballgame up at 14 halfway through the first period.
Pace then turned up the heat after a pair of Jarnel Rancy free throws and went on a 7-0 run itself. Adelphi trailed by as many as nine and the home crowd was on its feet, but it did not faze the Brown and Gold. The team turned up its defensive intensity, not allowing any easy baskets for the Setters.
The nine point deficit kept getting smaller and smaller until a Price three with two minutes left in the half completely erased it to give Adelphi a 26-25 lead. The Setters were forced to call a timeout but could not capitalize on their first possession out of the TO. The 'Cats came right back down the floor and Tavin Pierre Philippe buried a three to extend the lead to 29-25, where it would stay heading into halftime.
Coming out for the second half, the battle was on. Adelphi's four point lead did not last very long as Pace regained it, 38-35 at the 15:40 mark of the period. But the 'Cats remained resilient, and a big and-1 by Dayshaun Walton would tie the game up. The game then turned into a see-saw affair with neither squad able to muster a lead larger than three.
From 14:47 to 4:50, the game was tied ten different times. The crowd was on its feet and living with every basket and miss. Mason Jackson put the 'Cats up 54-53 with a free throw and after a defensive stop, Andres Fulgencio knocked down a corner three to give Adelphi all of the momentum.
The Panther defense buckled down, forcing Pace to shoot 1-9 from the floor down the stretch as the 'Cats themselves found some offense. Fulgencio would knock down two free throws and the bank was open for Jackson as he buried a deep three to put Adelphi up nine with three minutes to play.
That nine point lead would remain safe as the Setters were held to 36.4% shooting from the floor in the half while the Panthers shot at a 52.2% clip.
Adelphi (24-5, 16-2) went on to win the game, 74-63, and will be bringing home an NE10 regular season title to Garden City. This is the program's first regular season championship since 2011-12 and the first under Duke. Adelphi holds the number one seed in the conference tournament and will have home court throughout.
Walton led the team with 17 points, shooting 7-10 from the floor. Price was a spark plug off of the bench, scoring 13.
Burke brought down a career-high 10 rebounds.
Rancy recorded seven blocks, bringing his nation leading total to 103. Rancy is just the second Panther all-time to record 100+ blocks in a single season.
The #15' Cats will return to the court on Saturday afternoon when they travel up to SNHU for their penultimate game of the season.
