Garden City, N.Y. (January 18) -- Led by a 22-point effort from sophomore Chris Fitzgerald (Somerset, Mass./Northfield Mt. Hermon), the Assumption College men's basketball team pulled away for a 60-42 road win over Adelphi University in Northeast-10 cross-divisional action on Saturday afternoon.

Assumption came out firing from the outset and forced an Adelphi timeout with 11:43 left in the first after a free throw line jumper from freshman Reilly Reid (Mississauga, Ontario/Lorne Park Secondary School) made it a 12-7 Hounds lead. A 10-5 run, sparked by threes from Fitzgerald and freshman Marcus Murray (Silver Spring, Md./John F. Kennedy) and a three-point play by Reid extended the lead into double figures at 21-9.

The Hounds led by at least nine over the final 8:47 of the period while pushing the lead up to 13 at 30-17 on a Fitzgerald three from the top of the key with 3:31 left.  Assumption kept up the three-point shooting with another Fitzgerald triple, along with a corner three from sophomore Julian Aiken (Randolph, N.J./Randolph), to make it a 38-21 margin at the half. In the period, the Hounds knocked down 8-of-15 three-point attempts that included five threes by Fitzgerald as he led all scorers with 17 first-half points. Assumption also held a substantial 21-11 rebounding e dge, including 16-8 on the defensive glass. Assumption was stingy on the defensive end too, holding Adelphi to just 29.2 percent shooting from the field and 27.3 percent from three-point land. Anthony Libroia led Adelphi in the half with six points.

Assumption extended the lead up to 21 at the 16:16 mark of the second as Murray scored on an up and  under layup and was fouled, sinking the free throw for the 42-21 lead. Leading by 20 at 46-26, Assumption saw its lead cut to 13 behind a quick 7-0 run for the Panthers, but the Hounds held the hosts to just one field goal over the next 7:10 to push their advantage back to 20 at 59-39 with 5:45 left. Just four combined points were scored over the game's final 5:05 as the Hounds came away with the 18-point win to snap a three-game losing streak and win for the third time on the road this season.

 Fitzgerald had a game-high 22 points behind 6-for-10 shooting from three-point land, along with 20 points from Murray to go along with four assists. Overall the Hounds knocked down 12 three-pointers, shooting 44.4 percent from deep. Assumption also held a convincing 46-33 advantage on the boards, including 36-24 on the defensive glass. The Hounds forced just three Adelphi turnovers in the game, but held the Panthers to just 23.1 percent shooting from the field and 21.1 percent shooting from three.

Duane Morgan was the lone Panther in double figures with 15 points to go along with eight rebounds, while Ryan DeNicola led the team with nine rebounds.

With the win, Assumption improves to 4-12 overall and 2-9 in the Northeast-10, while Adelphi drops to 4-12 overall and 2-8 in league play.

Assumption is back in action on January 25th as the Hounds host American International for a 3:30 p.m. start at Laska Gym.

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