Mansfield, Mass. — The Adelphi men's basketball team has had a historic 2024-25 campaign. The Panthers' 26 wins are the fourth most in program history and they rode a program fifth best 12-game win streak to their first Northeast-10 regular season championship since 2011-12. Adelphi was ranked as high as #15 nationally this season, its highest ranking since 2000-01 when the 'Cats were the top ranked team in Division II. 

The conference took notice as Adelphi will be taking home a pair of major awards. Jarnel Rancy was named the NE10 Defensive Player of the Year and head coach Dave Duke was named the conference's Coach of the Year. Both Rancy and Duke are the first Panthers to receive their respective awards. 

Duke's 26 wins this season are currently the most in his career, besting his previous high of 20 nine seasons ago in 2015-16. The team's 17 NE10 wins are Duke's most since last season when the Panthers had 14 and earned the NE10 tournament's #2 seed.  

Rancy, who was also named to the all-defensive team and all-conference second team, led a stout Adelphi defense all year as he currently leads the entire NCAA in blocks with 117. On Feb. 25, the sophomore broke the program's single season record for blocks in a season. The Panther defensive unit is one of the top in the conference as they rank second in total defense, allowing only 67.8 points per game, first in opponent field goal percentage (38.8%) and fourth in opponent three-point field goals percentage (31.4%). 

Dayshaun Walton and Andres Fulgencio were the two Panthers named to the all-NE10 first team. 

Walton was the team's primary assist man with 96 and the team's leading rebounder, averaging 5.3 boards per game. He was second on the team in scoring (13.7 ppg) and second in the entire conference from the free throw line, shooting 89.7% which currently gives him Adelphi's fourth best single season mark all-time. 

Fulgencio was the leading scorer for the 'Cats, averaging 14.7 points per game as well as being one of the best defenders on the team, tallying a team-high 43 steals. The senior guard was the best three-point shooter in the conference, shooting at a 39.9% clip from beyond the arc. 

Duke, Rancy, Fulgencio, Walton and the rest of the Panthers are in full preparation for the team's NE10 semifinal matchup against #5 Pace that will take place in Garden City on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. With a win, Adelphi will reach its first conference final since 2011 when it defeated Bentley and be on the precipice of reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nearly 15 years.