Adelphi University Athletics

Flushing, N.Y. – Head coach Dave Duke and the Adelphi men's basketball team returned to action on Friday night after a 12-day break to take on local foe Molloy in the second game of the ECC-NE10 Conference Challenge, hosted by Queens College.

Series History:

• Adelphi (2-2, 0-0 NE10) moves to 26-4 against the Lions since January 2003 and carries a five-game winning streak dating back to Nov. 12, 2022. The last matchup was an 87-74 Panther victory in the Center for Recreation and Sport a year ago.

Highlights:

• Vlad Popa was the team's leading scorer for the second game in a row, pouring in a career-high 22 points. He also tied Patrick Burke for the team lead in rebounds (six).
• Burke added 18 points, two assists, three steals and three blocks in 27 minutes.
• Elijah Peters scored in double figures for the fourth straight game, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
• Landon Geren scored seven points and grabbed five boards off the bench.

How It Happened:

• The Panthers started slowly offensively, not scoring their first field goal until almost six minutes into the game on an Austin Workman jumper.
• Molloy went up six early on, but a 7-0 run put Adelphi in front, 12-11, with 10 minutes to play in the opening half.
• The remainder of the period was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team able to build a lead of more than two.
• A pair of free throws from Jeremiah Gorham tied the game at 31, but the Lions hit two free throws of their own in the final seconds to lead 33-31 at the break.
• Molloy made its first shot of the second half to go up five and saw its lead swell to eight just before the 16-minute media timeout.
• The Lions continued to hold the lead, but Adelphi kept chipping away, cutting its deficit to three with 9:45 to play after a Popa layup.
• Less than 40 seconds later, Popa gave the Panthers the lead with a jumper.
• The Long Island rivals continued to trade leads in the late stages of the second half, but the Panthers eventually pulled away.
• Burke gave the Brown and Gold a one-point lead with two free throws, and a Peters three-pointer, Geren layup and Burke slam extended the advantage to eight with less than three minutes to play.
• Adelphi led by as many as 10 with under two minutes remaining, and Duke's squad held on for a 77-71 victory.

Up Next:

• Duke and the Panthers return to action tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. to take on Queens in their final game of the Conference Challenge.