Box Score THE BASICS
-Score: Adelphi University 74, Assumption College 72
-Records: Assumption (10-7, NE10 4-6), Adelphi (14-5, NE10 7-3)
-Location: Garden City, N.Y. (Center for Recreation and Sport)
-The Lead: The Assumption College men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought battle to the Panthers of Adelphi University on the road on Wednesday night. The Panthers edged the Hounds in scoring, 39-37 in the first half and both teams went on to score 35 points in the second half as the hosts took the final two-point edge. Senior Branislav Vujadinovic (Belgrade, Serbia / St. Joseph) hit his 1,000th career point in the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-Adelphi kicked off a 14-point run with a three-pointer by sophomore Ronnie Silva at the 17:48 mark. Silva added another three and a jumper in the rally to give the Panthers the 19-4 lead with 13:04 to go in the first half.
-Assumption used their own 14-point run with under six minutes on the clock to pull back within two of the Panthers. The Hounds' defense stepped up with two steals over three minutes of play as Vujadinovic finished with a layup and a dunk on the plays to bring the visitors back within two, 34-32.
-Vujadinovic made a three and junior Matthew Kelly (North Potomac, Md. / Quince Orchard) made a layup to push Assumption ahead by one with just a minute to play in the first, 37-36. With 20 seconds on the clock Silva made one last basket from behind the arc to give Adelphi the 39-37 edge heading into the halftime break.
-Kelly kicked off scoring in the second half with a three-pointer and Vujadinovic and sophomore Cal Connelly (Rochester, N.H. / Spaulding / Tilton) followed up with layups of their own to lift the Hounds to a 44-39 lead.
-Silva made a three and a layup to give Adelphi a seven-point lead with 2:18 to play, 74-67. Assumption responded with a three-point play by red-shirt junior Jordan White (Prince Frederick, Md. / Clinton Christian School) and a pair of free-throws made by Kelly to pull within two with 39 seconds to play. The Panthers held Assumption off in their last run down the court to take the final 74-72 victory.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
-Kelly led the hounds with 17 points to go along with three steals. Vujadinovic finished with 13 points, a team-leading six rebounds, and three steals in the setback. White rounded out double-digit scoring for the visitors with 10 points.
-Silva led Adelphi with 26 points. Junior Chris Coalmon finished with 16 points and eight rebounds to go along with a team-leading four steals. His classmate, Spencer Foley put up 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
-Assumption shot 44.3% (27-for-61) from the field while Adelphi shot 46.7% (28-for-60).
-The Hounds went 7-for-28 from behind the arc while the Panthers went 12-for-33.
-Assumption went 11-for-16 from the free-throw line. Adelphi went 6-for-8 from the charity stripe.
-The Panthers edged Assumption in rebounding 38-33.
UP NEXT
-The Hounds are back in action on Saturday, January 25th when they host the University of New Haven in a Northeast-10 Conference match-up at 3:30 p.m.
