Box Score BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Nov. 22, 2014) - On Saturday, the Molloy College men's basketball team controlled the full 40 minutes to defeat Concordia College of New York, 59-45. The Lions are now 3-1 overall, while the Clippers fell to 1-3 on the young campaign. This neutral site matchup was the first game of the LIU Post Thanksgiving Classic, hosted by LIU Post in Brookville, N.Y. The host-Pioneers and the Griffins of Chestnut Hill College are the other two squads competing in the two-day event.
Junior point guard
Brandon Williams (Baldwin, N.Y.) achieved his second-straight 20-point outing with a 21-point performance. Shooting 6 for 11 in the contest, the junior also contributed with three steals and dished out four assists. Senior guard
Matt McLeod (Greenlawn, N.Y.) was a team-best 2 for 3 from deep range with eight points and four assists. Sophomore guard
Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.) slotted second on the squad with nine points.
For the Clippers, Tshyrad Oates scored a team-high 13 points, while Jamie Holder contributed with 11 points in the defeat.
The Lions led the entire way, up as much as 18 points during the second half. Molloy outscored the Clippers in the paint, 20-18; in the points-off-turnovers category, 11-10; and in scoring from its bench players, 14-7. The Lions shot 35% from the field, while Concordia hit 32.1% of their attempts. Rebounds were even at 41-41. Molloy hit 33.3% of its treys, while the Clippers drained 23.8% of theirs.
Shooting efficiency hurt Concordia early on in the contest as the Clippers missed their first five field goals. A three-ball ended the Lions 10-0 run to get on the board at the 15:46 mark in the first half. A 9-1 run put the Lions on top 22-6 with under seven minutes remaining in the opening stanza. Concordia would make just three more buckets in the half. With under a minute to go, Williams hit a three-pointer the old-fashion way via a layup, followed by an and-1 opportunity to give his squad its largest lead at the time, 27-13. The Clippers ended the half hitting just five of their 24 shots, which was slightly fewer than 21%.
Concordia came out of the break with more life, but a Morris three-pointer and a
Shandy Casimir (Middletown, N.Y.) jumper in the lane put Molloy up by 17 points. The Clippers' Oates' trey brought the game within single digits at 35-27 with 13:30 to go forcing Molloy College Head Coach
Charles Marquardt to call a timeout. From there, a 10-0 burst from the Lions -- with eight of those points coming from Williams -- gave the Lions some breathing room.
Concordia was only able to get the score to a 12-point deficit with 88 seconds remaining, before the Lions ran out the clock and secured the 59-45 victory.
Next up for Coach Marquardt and company is the second game of the LIU Post Thanksgiving Classic at the Pratt Recreation Center in Brookville, N.Y. The Lions face Chestnut Hill College tomorrow at 1 p.m. as Molloy ends it five-game, season-opening road swing. LiveStats and an audio/video broadcast will be available on MolloyLions.com.
