Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (Jan. 4, 2014) - On Saturday afternoon, the Molloy College men's basketball team traveled to Springfield, Mass. to battle non-conference opponent American International College. Senior forward
John Petrucelli (Hicksville, N.Y.) paced the Lions with 27 points as he helped his team to a 78-62 victory over AIC. With the win, the Lions improved to 5-7 overall, while the Yellow Jackets slipped to 5-8 on the season.
With about 15 minutes elapsed in the opening period, the Lions had built up a 10-point cushion. The Yellow Jackets battled back, however, aiming to be within striking distance when the intermission rolled around. Over the final three minutes, AIC snapped off a 9-0 run to help close the gap to 28-27. With two seconds left before the buzzer sounded, Petrucelli pulled up in between the half court line and three-point line and drained a bucket to give Molloy a 32-27 lead at halftime.
Throughout the first part of the second stanza, Molloy held a lead that ranged from eight points to 12 points. With 7:53 left, the Yellow Jackets' Marcus Porter hit a jump shot to cut AIC's deficit to 55-53. The Lions then reeled off a 7-1 run, helping to gain some of that cushion back. The Lions received clutch shots down the stretch, including a trio of big under-the-basket buckets from sophomore forward
Chucks Obunse (Saint Albans, N.Y.) and a three-ball from junior guard
Matt McLeod (Greenlawn, N.Y.). In the end, Molloy had built the sizeable lead back up to notch the 78-62 win.
For Molloy, Petrucelli finished with 27 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals, while sophomore guard
Brandon Williams (Baldwin, N.Y.) scored nine points and dished out four assists. Senior center
Tyler Hammett (Clifton Park, N.Y.) scored 10 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the double-double.
For AIC, Bobby Harris had 15 points, while Mark Ellis Jr. scored 14. Janek Schmidkunz contributed 12 points, while Marcus Porter recorded eight points and eight boards.
UP NEXT: Head Coach
Charlie Marquardt and the Lions return to action on Wednesday, January 8 when they travel to Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. to take on East Coast Conference-foe Mercy College. The game is set to get underway at 7:30 p.m. Check back at www.MolloyLions.com for the link to Mercy's video broadcast of all the action.
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