Springfield, Mass. – The Adelphi men's basketball team traveled to American International College on Tuesday night for its regular season finale. The Panthers put together a nice game defensively, thwarting a late comeback and holding AIC to 40% shooting.
 

Series History: 

• Adelphi (18-10, 10-8 NE10) is now 24-9 against the Yellow Jackets since 2009. The last matchup between the pair was a 60-44 Panther win in Garden City on December 3. Dayshaun Walton was the team's leading scorer with 25 points. 

Highlights:

• Walton once again led Adelphi in points with 19, shooting 7-14 from the field. The senior was also the team's leading rebounder with 12 boards. 
• Al-Fatir Connor was second on the team, pouring in 14 points, making five of his six free throw attempts.
• Earning another start, Matthew Price put together one of his best performances of year, scoring 12 points.  
• Patrick Burke recorded 11 rebounds and scored nine points. Jarnel Rancy scored eight with six boards and four blocks. 

How It Happened:

• Both teams were off to a slow shooting start, with the first basket coming almost four minutes into the game. 
• Adelphi led by as many as nine halfway through the first period after a pair of Reece Brown free throws. 
• With five minutes to play, the Panthers lead was up to 10 thanks to a Patrick Burke three. 
• AIC slowly chipped away and ended the first half on an extended 14-5 run to trail only by one going into the break. 
• Early in the second half, the back and forth affair continued with Adelphi unable to pull away. 
• With 12 minutes remaining, the Panthers were able to get their lead up to six but the Yellow Jackets responded once again. 
• The lead was back down to one before a 7-0 Adelphi run had the Cats up eight. 
• Adelphi's lead hovered around six for the final five minutes and although AIC did cut it to three with three minutes remaining, the Panthers did not falter. 
• Solid defense and good rebounding kept Adelphi's lead in tact. Free throws from Connor, Walton and Price sealed the 72-67 victory. 

• The Panthers have clinched a spot in the Northeast 10 Championship. They are awaiting the results of Pace and Assumption on Wednesday night. A Pace win places Adelphi as the No. 5 seed with a trip to the Setters on Saturday. An Assumption win secures the No. 4 seed for the Brown and Gold and hosting duties for the quarterfinal. 

Hear from Coach Duke:

• "I am very proud of the team for pulling out an important road win. AIC is always a very tough place to play. The guys fought the entire 40 minutes to get us a huge win."