Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Jan. 30, 2016) – A gritty effort from the Molloy College men's basketball team came up just a few minutes short on Saturday as the Saint Thomas Aquinas College Spartans claimed a 69-65 victory over the maroon and white at Quealy Gymnasium. STAC, winners of 10 consecutive contests now, boasts a record of 16-4 overall and 10-2 in East Coast Conference play. Meanwhile, Molloy falls to 6-14 on the season and 4-8 in conference competition.
At the onset, it appeared that the Lions were going to run away with things in the first half as the team did Wednesday versus Mercy (an 11-0 run opened play against the Mavericks). Junior guard Charlie Marquardt (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) scored his squad's first six points with a three-point play and a conventional three-point shot while freshman guard Curtis Jenkins (Farmingdale, N.Y.) added a jumper to put Molloy in the catbird seat, up 8-2 less than three minutes in. The Spartans then answered with a three-pointer by sophomore James Mitchell (Washington, D.C.) and a lay-up from center Sam Berlin (Manassas, Va.) to get within one point at the 16:48 mark of the first half. But the hosts were able to build their advantage back up to six on a three-point play from senior guard Brandon Williams (Baldwin, N.Y.) and a three-pointer by junior Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.). Morris kept the lead at six with a jumper as the clock wound down with less than nine minutes with the Lions ahead, 20-14. Saint Thomas Aquinas returned the favor late as junior guard Chaz Watler (Brooklyn, N.Y.) punctuated an 8-0 run with a three-ball to give the Spartans a 31-26 lead with 2:02 remaining in the half. The Lions rallied back as Marquardt hit a two-point jump shot with 1:32 to go to bring Molloy within three. Then, with under a minute to play in the half, freshman guard Chris O'Reilly (Colts Neck, N.J.) shot a three-ball that would have landed short had it not been touched before it completed its descent; the referees awarded the points to O'Reilly on the goaltending call. Watler would end the first half with a runner to put STAC back in front 33-31 as both teams went into the locker room.
Any momentum that the Lions could claim for themselves was dashed by Watler's half-ending runner, and the pendulum swung further in the direction of the visitors as the second half got under way. Sophomore guard Shaquille McFarlan (Mesic, N.C.) hit back-to-back runners in the paint to open the last period of play and the Spartans were rolling towards a 9-0 run and a 42-31 lead with two minutes gone by in the half. Red-shirt sophomore forward Justin Reyes (Haverhill, Mass.) took over in the second half as he threw down a vicious left-handed jam to keep his team ahead by a 46-35 tally less than a minute later. Reyes would then block a lay-up attempt on the defensive end which started a tic-tac-toe passing fast-break on the other end as Watler finished with a lay-up to put the Spartans up by 13 points. The maroon and white would claw back to within eight points at 48-40 on a treble by senior forward Kevin Bowles (Wantagh, N.Y.), but STAC guard Aaron Cust (Uniondale, N.Y.) scored four straight points in bringing the Spartans back to a 12-point edge with 12:33 to play. The Lions chipped deeper and deeper at the lead, getting within one point on a Williams lay-up with 5:57 remaining in regulation. Bowles would then trade threes with freshman guard Jonathan Lawton (Williamstown, N.J.), and the lead stayed in the hands of the visitors. The Wantagh senior then hit a jumper inside the arc with 2:29 to go and tied the game at 64-all. Free throws would decide the game from there---much like it did in the earlier contest between the two squads back on Dec. 12---as a Watler foul shot put the Spartans ahead by three at 67-64 with 45 seconds to play. Molloy had several good looks to tie the game as the clock ticked under 20 seconds to play, but none would fall as Mitchell sank two free throws with two seconds to go and iced the game.
Morris led Molloy with a 20-point, nine-rebound effort that also included a team-high three blocks. The junior was 7-for-14 from the field and 5-of-7 from the free throw line in the loss. Williams added 17 points with four boards and four assists, while Bowles added 11 points in the second half as he hit three shots from downtown in the final 20 minutes of play. Marquardt was held to 10 points in the first half, and the junior guard did not score a point in the final period of competition. All in all, Molloy shot 40% (22-55) from the field with a 6-for-16 (37.5%) effort from three-point range. The Lions were successful at the free-throw line (15-18, 83.3%) but were not as triumphant in the rebounding and turnover statistics. The maroon and white were minus-two (38-36) on the boards and committed 12 turnovers to STAC's six.
Reyes had 22 points and 12 rebounds (14 & 10 in the second half alone) to go along with four blocks in propelling the Spartans to the win. Watler added 12 on a relatively quiet day from the field (5-15, 1-4 from three-point range), and Mitchell added 10 points including four clutch free throws down the stretch. Lawton and Cust had six points off the bench while McFarlan put up one of the more colorful stat lines of the game (nine points, six rebounds, four assists). STAC shot 40.7% (24-59) from the field and were held in check from three-point range (28.6%), with a 70.8% (17-24) efficiency from the charity stripe.
The Molloy College men's basketball team will next be in action on Saturday (Feb. 6) in a 2:30 p.m. matinee at Quealy Gymnasium against the Firebirds of UDC.
