Articles
Purple Knights Men Earn 83-69 Win at NE-10 Leader Adelphi
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- Created on Sunday, 08 January 2012 04:52
- Written by George Commo
Purple Knights snap two-game losing streak ... improve to 5-8 overall, 4-5 in NE-10
Courtesy St. Michael's Sports Information
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team posted the most points allowed this season by Northeast-10 Conference leader Adelphi University on Saturday during an 83-69 triumph in the Center for Recreation and Sports. Now 5-8 overall and 4-5 in the league, the Purple Knights snapped a two-game losing streak, handing the Panthers their second loss in the last 12 games. Adelphi, which won last year's NE-10 Tournament to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, is 10-3 and 7-2.
The Purple Knights scored 83 points against a team that had allowed as many as 70 - a season-high 79 - only once since mid-November and was yielding an average of 60.4 per game. Saint Michael's netted the most points by an opponent on Adelphi's home court since March 1, 2008. With the Panthers only joining the NE-10 in 2009-10, this marked the Purple Knights' first win at Adelphi in more than 15 years, since Nov. 30, 1996.
Sophomore Mike Holton Jr. (Portland, Ore./The Winchendon School) netted a game-high 25 points for Saint Michael's, shooting 11-for-12 on free throws while adding five rebounds and three assists. He was among four players to hit multiple three-pointers, as the Purple Knights went 10-of-17 from downtown, including 8-for-10 in the first half. Junior Travis Warech (Pine Brook, N.Y./Montville) added 13 points, going 3-of-5 from deep and moving past the 900-point plateau for his career.
In his first collegiate start, freshman Dom Ditlefsen (Portland, Ore./Sunset) matched his season high with 12 points while snagging six rebounds, and classmate James Cambronne (De Bary, Fla./The Winchendon School) added 12 points in 10 minutes off the bench. Freshman Corey Crawford (Dover, Del./The Phelps School) had six rebounds and five assists, and classmate Mike Thompson (Rosedale, N.Y./Christ The King) had a season-best nine points and three assists. The Purple Knights shot 56.8 percent while holding Adelphi to 39.4 percent.
Senior Robert Johnson (New Rochelle, N.Y./Tuckahoe) and juniors John Calarco (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) and Bradley Simpson (Goulburn, Australia/Trinity Catholic College) each had 13 points for the Panthers.
The Purple Knights turned an early 9-5 deficit into a seven-point advantage behind 11 straight points, with Warech hitting a go-ahead three-pointer at 15:33 of the first half and capping the run with a bucket at 14:01 following his steal. Adelphi rallied for a 21-20 edge, but a 14-3 run gave Saint Michael's the lead for good. Another Warech triple put the visitors on top, at 8:50, and Ditlefsen added two treys in the run. Warech canned another three to make it a 16-point game before the Purple Knights took a 44-30 advantage into the intermission.
Cambronne's three-point play at 14:01 of the second stanza provided Saint Michael's with the first of two 25-point cushions, as he created a 58-33 margin. Adelphi later countered with an 18-7 run to pull within 67-53 at 3:45 but came no closer than 14 points down the stretch.
The Purple Knights complete a three-game road swing on Wednesday at Southern Connecticut State University at 7:30 p.m.
