Box Score ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Jan. 6, 2016) - Despite senior guard
Brandon Williams (Baldwin, N.Y.) crossing the 1,000-point plateau for his career, the Molloy College men's basketball team went cold in the second half and lost a tough 94-74 decision to the LIU Post Pioneers on Wednesday (Jan. 6) at Quealy Gymnasium. Molloy now stands at 3-9 on the season, sporting an ECC record of 1-3, while LIU Post's ledger now reads 10-3 and 5-0 in conference competition for the 2015-16 campaign.
A very entertaining first half ensued from Rockville Centre as both teams found their shooting stroke early. LIU Post shot 15-of-29 (52%) from the field, hitting six three-pointers in nine tries for a 67% efficiency rating from beyond the three-point arc. Molloy, meanwhile, struggled from deep territory (4-13, 31%) but was able to hit 49% (17-35) of its shots overall. The lead changed nine times throughout the course of the opening twenty minutes of action, with the Lions leading 48-47 going into the locker room break. The second half, however, told a much different tale. The Pioneers continued their blistering pace by hitting 61% (19-31) of their shots from the field including a 50% (5-10) clip from three-point territory. The home side could not break its struggling effort from deep range (4-14, 29%), but also hit just four other field goals en route to an 8-for-29
Junior guard
Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.) opened the contest with a second-chance putback on a missed lay-up by freshman
Curtis Jenkins (Farmingdale, N.Y.) in the game's first 19 seconds. The Pioneers responded with jumpers by seniors Michael Phillip (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Dillon Burns (Staten Island, N.Y.) until Morris tied the game at four-all with a lay-up at the 18-minute mark of the half. LIU Post's Greg Dotson (Abington, Pa.) hit a three-ball to give the visitors a 7-4 lead, but that was short-lived as senior
Kevin Bowles (Wantagh, N.Y.) scored five straight points to put Molloy ahead 9-4 with 16:48 to go in the half. Bowles would strike for another trifecta a minute later, giving the Lions a four-point lead at 16-12, before Dotson and Jared Hall (South Orange, N.J.) tipped the score in favor of LIU Post once again, as the Pioneers led 17-16 after Hall's three at 13:34. Hall hit another three-ball with just under 10 minutes remaining in the frame to give his team a 24-21 lead, and junior Barrington Alston (Wilmington, Del.) scored four unanswered between a three from
Maurice Gatson (New York, N.Y.) and a lay-up by
Chucks Obunse (St. Albans, N.Y.) as LIU Post clung to a 28-26 advantage with 8:13 remaining.
Following another Alston bucket at the 7:12 mark of the first half, Williams hit his first bucket to keep the Lions within two points at 32-30 with 6:56 to play. Dotson and Morris traded two-pointers after that, but Alston took over with a dunk to give the Pioneers a six-point lead one minute later. The Lions clawed closer again as free throws by Gatson and a lay-up by Bowles made the score 38-36 in favor of the visitors with 4:32 to play. After an Alston lay-up, Williams knocked in a free throw and then drove for an uncontested lay-up to give him five points on the night and 1,000 for his career; the Lions still trailed, however, by a 40-39 score. Gatson would hit a three-point shot after Hunter Powell (Tustin, Mich.) hit a trey seconds earlier, and Morris led a 6-0 spurt that put the Lions ahead 48-47 at the end of the first half.
The Lions led 53-51 in the second half on a lay-up by junior guard
Charlie Marquardt (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) with 18:42 remaining in the game. From there, LIU Post took over with an 11-2 run capped off by a Burns three-pointer that gave the Pioneers a 62-55 lead with 15:54 to play. Following a Marquardt three at 15:26 which cut the visitors' lead to four at 62-58, red-shirt sophomore guard Aary Bibens (Bennington, Vt.) hit two three-pointers in a ninety-second span to lift LIU Post to a 70-60 lead. Molloy made one last-ditch effort to cut into the deficit, with a Morris three-ball bringing the Lions within six at 70-64 with 13:18 to play. The Pioneers, though, ran off a 24-10 run over the game's final minutes including scoring the game's final nine points to claim the twenty-point win.
Morris had a team-high 17 points for the Lions in the loss, adding nine rebounds and five assists to his count. Bowles collected 16 points while Gatson added 16 off the bench. Williams had 10 points with five assists and four rebounds, as well. Leading the Pioneers was Dotson, with a game-high 24 points and nine rebounds. Alston had 16 points off the bench while Akosa Maduegbunam (Hyde Park, Mass.) also scored 11 points in 15 solid minutes of action. Hall and Burns totaled 25 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds in the win for the green and gold.
The Molloy College men's basketball team will welcome in NYIT on Saturday (Jan. 9) for a 2:30 p.m. matinee at Quealy Gymnasium.
Be sure to follow along with www.molloylions.com for all the latest stats and recaps, and also be sure to check out the Molloy Lions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube (where a live broadcast of Saturday's doubleheader can be seen and heard).
