Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Jan. 16, 2016) – Despite a game-high 25 points from Molloy freshman guard Curtis Jenkins (Farmingdale, N.Y.), the Molloy College men's basketball team could not stop Dowling from escaping with an 83-77 win on Saturday at Quealy Gymnasium. The Golden Lions' effort was led by a 25-point, 18-rebound performance from junior forward Chris Millender (Coram, N.Y.) in claiming the victory in Rockville Centre.
Dowling (8-7, 4-4 ECC) opened the contest on a 7-0 run through the game's first two-and-a-half minutes, with Millender and senior Evan Maxwell (East Islip, N.Y.) directing much of the traffic for the visitors. Molloy (4-12, 2-6 ECC) struck back with a 10-2 run, punctuated by a three-pointer from Charlie Marquardt (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) that gave the Lions a 10-9 lead with 15:44 to go in the half. Dowling responded with another 7-0 run as Maxwell hit a three-pointer and a lay-up before Millender slashed through the lane for another bucket to put the Golden Lions up 16-10. Jenkins began his takeover of the game, reesponding with a lay-up followed by another Marquardt trey to bring Molloy within one at the 13-minute mark of the opening frame; Dowling, though, went back to Maxwell and Millender to grab the advantage once again. Specifically, the Coram native drained a long-range three that gave Dowling a 25-15 cushion with 8:40 to play in the half. Jenkins responded by directing a 12-2 run and throwing down an emphatic slam dunk to tie the score at 27 with five-and-a-half minutes remaining. The Farmingdale native would reach for the sky later and posterize Maxwell with another highlight-reel jam just a few seconds later, and the ensuing free throw put Molloy within one at 31-30 one minute later. Back-to-back three-pointers from Dowling guards Vincent Abbandola (Bayport, N.Y.) and Ryan Hickey (Smithtown, N.Y.) allowed the visitors to push ahead by seven points at the time, and a Millender lay-up late in the first half gave the Golden Lions to take a 43-32 lead with 90 seconds remaining. Molloy was able to rally back behind Marquardt, whose three-pointer swished home at the buzzer to send both teams into the locker room; Dowling led Molloy by a 45-39 score at the end of the first 20 minutes.
The second half commenced with a flourish on both sides, but it was Molloy that did most of the damage at the onset of the final stanza of regulation. Following a lay-up by Tristan Brown (Elmont, N.Y.), Marquardt hit a trifecta to kick-start a 9-2 run as senior forward Kevin Bowles (Wantagh, N.Y.) scored Molloy's following four points. Marquardt took his game to the inside with a lay-up at the 16:39 mark of the second half to tie the score at 50. After an Abbandola three-ball, Molloy ran off 11 unanswered points over a near-four minute stretch of basketball to grab a 61-53 edge over the opposition. Getting things going for the Lions was Marquardt, but Jenkins and junior guard Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.) also contributed key buckets in the run as did senior guard Maurice Gatson (New York, N.Y.). A Jenkins jumper kept Molloy ahead by seven points at 63-56 with 11:47 to go, but Millender collected a 6-0 personal run as part of a Dowling 9-0 spree that allowed the Golden Lions to reclaim a 65-63 advantage. The hosts nosed back in front thanks to a jumper by Morris with 7:02 remaining as the Lions went up 67-65.
Late drama would decide the outcome of the game, as Maxwell glided through the lane for a right-handed stuff to tie the score back up at 69 with five minutes to go. The teams would trade the lead up to a 73-all score-line before Dowling pulled ahead for good. Millender knocked down two free throws to give the Golden Lions a two-point lead, but Molloy could not answer as Brown followed with a pair of foul shots and a back-breaking dagger steal-and-score to give the visitors a 79-73 lead. Dowling would then cruise the rest of the way to an 83-77 triumph in front of a dismayed Lions' Den.
For Molloy, Marquardt had 17 points and was 4-of-9 from three-point range while the rest of the team struggled to a 1-for-16 mark from beyond the arc. Morris had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, but the junior guard was limited to a 6-for-21 field goal shooting performance in the loss. Gatson added 10 points with five rebounds and three assists to the Lions' account. Molloy shot a decent 40% (29-72) from the field and an almost-perfect 93% (14-15) from the free throw line, but the Lions were a total of 5-for-25 (20%) from three-point range.
Millender and Maxwell dominated the afternoon for John Mateyko's club, with the East Islip native Maxwell pouring in a 23-point, 11-rebound double-double to help his team. Brown added 15 points while Abbandola had 12 points and Hickey added eight. The Golden Lions had no points from their bench players, but shot 46% (31-67) from the field and 32% (6-19) from three-point range. Dowling was also plus-four (43-39) in the rebounding category while both teams did a fine job taking care of the basketball: the visitors had seven turnovers; the hosts gave the ball away nine times.
Molloy is next in action on Friday (Jan. 22) with an 8 p.m. contest against Daemen College in Amherst, N.Y. The match with the Wildcats is the first in a back-to-back weekend in Western New York, with the Lions facing Roberts Wesleyan on Saturday (Jan. 23) in Rochester.
