Garden City, NY– Up 42-27 going into the second half the Adelphi men’s basketball team appeared to be in the driver seat on Wednesday night at the Center for Recreation and Sports, but a 29-11 run for the Pace University Setters to open the second half proved to be the difference. The Panthers were unable to bounce back from the slow start in the second half and were upended by the Setters in overtime 87-83.
The Panthers came out of the gate hot leading by as much as 15 in the first half. Senior guard Austin Beech played a big part in the first half dominance putting up eight points and having seven offensive rebounds. He finished the game with a double-double. Freshmen guard Spencer Foley also added eight points in the first half helping to the 15-point first half lead.
The second half was dominated by the Setters when they opened up the scoring and never looked back. Led by a 31-point performance from Peyton Wejnert the Setters were able to take their first lead of the game 54-52 at the 9:40 mark.
The physical dominance of Pace was too much for the Panther defense. They got out played in all aspects. The Setters racked up 15 second chance points thanks in part to their 15 offensive rebounds in the second half surge.
The victory was sealed in overtime thanks to the slick shooting of Tyrone Cohen who went 3-3 from beyond the arc scoring 9 points in extra time.
Coach Dave Duke was not pleased with the players efforts in the second half saying, “We were on the guys the last few days, you have to rebound the ball. They had 20 offensive rebounds and that really hurt us.”
Despite the spotty defense the Panthers offense was highlighted with four players in double figures including Beech, Foley, Ronnie Silva and Chris Coalmon.
Coalmon, one rebound shy of a double-double spoke about how the team plans to bounce back after a tough overtime loss. “We just have to have a positive mind set, people lose games all the time. We have to forget about it put in the past and just move on,” said Coalmon.
The Panthers (18-8, 11-6 NE-10) look to keep that positive mind set moving forward. They play a tough divisional opponent in the University of New Haven Chargers as they seek another conference win. They will be back in action on Saturday February 22ndin New Haven Connecticut.
Tyler's Sports Blog 