Courtesy St. Michael’s Sports Information<\/p>\n
GARDEN CITY, NY. — Behind a 54-29 second-half scoring surge, the Saint Michael’s College men’s basketball team knocked off regionally-ranked Adelphi University, 79-63, on Wednesday evening during Northeast-10 Conference action in Adelphi’s Center for Recreation and Sport. The Panthers are ninth in this week’s D2SIDA East Region Media Poll, as the Purple Knights improved to 3-2 in their last five games.<\/p>\n
RECORDS
\n\u00b7 Saint Michael’s (6-13, 3-9 NE10), Adelphi (14-7, 7-5 NE10)<\/p>\n
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS
\n\u00b7 First-year Kasai Brown (Brooklyn, N.Y.\/Millbrook School), 25 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 7-for-11 field goals, 3-for-6 three-pointers, 8-for-12 free throws
\n\u00b7 Senior Eli DiGrande (Essex Junction, Vt.\/Essex), 23 points (career high), 10 rebounds, 10-for-10 field goals, 2-for-2 free throws
\n\u00b7 Senior Jordan Guzman (Staten Island, N.Y.\/Xaverian), 17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 6-for-12 field goals, 3-for-6 three-pointers
\n\u00b7 Junior Jason Heter (Andover, N.J.\/Newton), 8 points, 4-for-5 field goals
\n\u00b7 Redshirt junior Thomas Jackson III (Middletown, Conn.\/Holderness School), 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals
\n\u00b7 Junior Walker Storey (Shelburne, Vt.\/Champlain Valley Union), 4 assists<\/p>\n
OPPONENT LEADERS
\n\u00b7 Sophomore Ronnie Silva, 16 points, 7 assists
\n\u00b7 Senior Austin Beech, 15 points, 3 assists, 5 steals
\n\u00b7 Junior Chris Coalmon, 10 points
\n\u00b7 Junior Spencer Foley, 10 points<\/p>\n
GAME FACTS
\n\u00b7 Saint Michael’s is 3-2 in its last five games, downing an Adelphi team ranked ninth in the latest D2SIDA East Region Media Poll thanks to a 54-29 second-half scoring surge.
\n\u00b7 Saint Michael’s downed the Panthers for the first time since Jan. 31, 2015, last winning on Adelphi’s home court on Feb. 1, 2014. Seventy nine points have been the magic number in their all-time series, as the Purple Knights are 10-0 when netting at least 79 since an 89-80 defeat on Feb. 24, 1962.
\n\u00b7 The Purple Knights picked up a 16-point win – their largest in the series since a 94-75 win on Dec. 2, 1978, and their biggest on the road since a 97-77 triumph on Jan. 5, 1965 – against an Adelphi team that had won 75 percent of its home games (27-9) since late in the 2016-17 season.
\n\u00b7 DiGrande became the third Purple Knight to ever shoot a perfect 10-for-10 in a game, and the first in an NE10 affair. Jerry Mizerak ’83 turned the trick against Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Dec. 19, 1981, before Tyler Schilling ’12 did the same versus Dominican (N.Y.) College on Dec. 28, 2009.
\n\u00b7 DiGrande is the sixth player in Division II this season to make at least 10 field goals without a miss, and the second to do so against Adelphi. Across all three divisions, he is the 11th with a perfect line and 10 makes.
\n\u00b7 With his 25 points, Brown became the 14th first-year in the program’s illustrious history with 300 for a season (307).
\n\u00b7 Saint Michael’s held vast advantages in shooting success (55.8%-38.5%), three-point shooting (36.8%-25.0%) and rebounding (44-24).
\n\u00b7 The Purple Knights were 6-for-12 from deep in the second half, shooting 63.3 percent overall and committing only four turnovers while limiting Adelphi to 34.4 percent shooting, including 4-for-17 (23.5%) from beyond the arc.
\n\u00b7 Adelphi made nine threes and shot 25.0 percent from distance after entering the day ranked third in the nation in made threes per game (13.1) and 37th in percentage (38.8%). The Panthers also were first nationally in overall three-point tries and makes this season.
\n\u00b7 The Purple Knights capped a challenging three-game stretch that featured regionally-ranked Le Moyne College and Adelphi as well as Pace, which was ranked earlier this month, with a 2-1 mark.<\/p>\n
THE ACTION
\n\u00b7 Guzman’s jumper gave Saint Michael’s an early 4-3 edge before Beech had four points in a 10-2 counter that put Adelphi up 13-6 at 14:35 of the first half.
\n\u00b7 A 9-0 response by the Purple Knights featured five straight points from Brown and buckets by sophomore Aidan Keefer (Cambridge, Mass.\/Cambridge Rindge & Latin School) and Guzman, accounting for the fourth of seven lead swings in the first stanza.
\n\u00b7 Adelphi wiped out the 15-13 deficit with seven straight points from three scorers, but Brown and DiGrande split scoring duties in an 8-0 response that created a 23-20 lead by 6:34.
\n\u00b7 The next nine points came from Panthers, and junior Jared Rivers knocked down a pair of three-pointers as the run reached 14-2 by the end of the half. The hosts led 34-25 at intermission.
\n\u00b7 Saint Michael’s stormed out of the locker room with a 34-8 run to begin the second period, as DiGrande scored the first seven points before Guzman’s triple at 16:34 put the Purple and Gold in front for good. Brown (8), DiGrande (11) and Guzman (13) combined to score the first 32 points before Brown dished to Heter for a lay-in that created a 59-42 margin with 9:30 left.
\n\u00b7 Foley’s three 1:01 later cut the deficit to 61-48, but Adelphi came no closer, as Heter scored the final four points of a 6-0 counter. Saint Michael’s later scored on four straight possessions after Silva’s triple had made it 67-53 with 4:49 to go, sealing the victory.<\/p>\n
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S GAME
\n\u00b7 Saturday vs. American International College, 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Courtesy St. Michael’s Sports Information GARDEN CITY, NY. — Behind a 54-29 second-half scoring surge, the Saint Michael’s College men’s basketball team knocked off regionally-ranked Adelphi University, 79-63, on Wednesday evening during Northeast-10 Conference action in Adelphi’s Center for Recreation and Sport. The Panthers are ninth in this week’s D2SIDA East Region Media Poll, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[280,279],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n