Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Nov. 19, 2015) - In front of a capacity crowd at Quealy Gymnasium, the Molloy College men's basketball team held the Caldwell University Cougars to just a 22% (6-27) performance from the field in the first half of the Lions' home opener on Thursday evening. Unfortunately, the maroon and white were stunned in the second half as a buzzer-beater from senior guard Dawan Lighty (Paterson, N.J.) hit nothing but net and lifted the Cougars to a 66-64 victory in Rockville Centre Thursday evening.
As Molloy (0-4) had previously done in contests versus Saint Anselm and Saint Michael's just last week, the Lions raced out to an early edge on their opponents. The home side scored the first seven points on lay-ups by senior
Kevin Bowles (Wantagh, N.Y.) and junior
Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.) followed by a free throw and bucket on consecutive offensive possessions from
Charlie Marquardt (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.). Before long, the lead ballooned to a 22-4 margin as the Lions hit nearly every shot in sight while Caldwell (2-2) opened the contest with 13 consecutive misses from the field. The Cougars did work at the free throw line to stay in the first half, and before long a 28-11 deficit had become a 28-19 lead for the Lions as senior guard Salvatore Vitello (Bridgewater, N.J.) scored six of Caldwell's nine points in that spurt. Molloy would lead at the half by a 37-29 margin, making 50% of their field goals but only shooting 2-for-11 from beyond the three-point line. The visitors from New Jersey hit 15 free throws in 19 attempts (79%) in the first half to keep the score close going into the locker rooms.
Lighty would become a key catalyst for the Cougars' comeback in the second half of play, as he scored four straight points after a three-pointer from freshman forward Thomas Elliott-Smith (Plymouth, England) to bring Caldwell within six points. Bowles knocked down a field goal to make it 49-41 with under 15 minutes to play in the game, but then the Cougars started another rally. A 12-0 run, to be exact, gave Caldwell its first lead of the game at 53-49 on the strength of a go-ahead lay-up from Lighty and free throws from senior Brian Kenny (Howell, N.J.). Morris answered with a personal four-point run of his own to level the game at 53, but senior Billy McDonald (North Haven, Conn.) answered with a lay-up at the 6:50 mark to give Caldwell a 55-53 edge. Sophomore guard
Curtis Jenkins (Farmingdale, N.Y.) collected two straight lay-ins to put the Lions back on top by two until Vitello answered with a pair of free throws at the 4:27 mark of the second half.
Molloy took a 62-57 lead with 3:44 to play on a Bowles shot in the paint and a Marquardt long-range three-ball, sending the packed crowd into a frenzy. The Cougars methodically answered with a 7-0 run as Kenny and McDonald totaled four points and Vitello hit a deep three-pointer to get Caldwell ahead with under two minutes to go. After a Lighty three-point attempt went off the rim, Morris sank a jumper in the lane with 14 seconds to go to tie the game and set off a wild sequence to close out regulation. Following a turnover by Vitello with four seconds left, Morris took the inbounds from Jenkins and lost the ball off of a good deal of contact on defense. No foul call was made, and the ball was awarded to Caldwell with 2.8 seconds on the clock. On the inbound play, McDonald threw the rock to the top of the key for Lighty who stepped just inside the three-point arc and buried a jumper from straight away as time expired to silence the Quealy faithful and begin the Cougars' celebration at midcourt.
Once again, Morris was the high point man for the Lions with a game-best 23 points and a team-high 12 rebounds, while Bowles added 13 and Jenkins poured in 11 points. Senior guard
Brandon Williams (Baldwin, N.Y.) had four points, five assists, four steals and two rebounds while Marquardt had a nine-point night with four boards and four helpers. Lighty led the Cougars with 14 points, Vitello had 13 and Kenny had nine points and nine rebounds in the win for the CACC representatives. The Cougars went to the charity stripe 32 times in the contest and knocked down 25 attempts for a 78% mark from the line, while Molloy hit just 54% (7-13) of their tries from the foul line. Molloy had a 48% performance (27-56) from the field in the loss while Caldwell's victory came at the expense of a 33% (19-57) mark shooting the ball. The visitors outrebounded the hosts by a 40-31 margin while Caldwell committed 16 turnovers to Molloy's 14.
The Lions will search again for their first win of the 2015-16 campaign after the Thanksgiving break, as Molloy hosts Assumption College on Sunday, Nov. 29 at 2:30 p.m.
