Box Score OAKDALE, N.Y. (Feb. 20, 2016) - With an outstanding and historic effort from junior guard Jaylen Morris (Amherst, N.Y.), the Molloy College men's basketball team cruised to an 101-85 victory over the Dowling Golden Lions. The Molloy men's basketball team added an East Coast Conference victory to their belt making them 9-17, 7-11 ECC this afternoon. In doing so, the maroon and white scored over 100 points in a game for the first time since a 101-point output against UDC on Jan. 30, 2014. The Golden Lions fell to 12-13 on the season, 8-10 in ECC play with the loss.
There was a back-and-forth battle within the first few minutes of play. Molloy started trailing by three points until senior Brandon Williams (Baldwin, N.Y.) secured both of his free-throws making the score 5-5 with 17:56 to play. A three-pointer by senior Kevin Bowles (Wantagh, N.Y.) started up the rally for the lions 10-9 lead with 15:41 left in the half. Jumpers by Williams and Chucks Obunse (Saint Albans, N.Y.) as well as a three-pointer by Morris put the lions up by seven points 21-14 with 11:34 left in the first half of play. Molloy had their biggest lead of the first half when the Amherst native added a two-pointer to help the lions have an 11-point advantage at 47-36 with 1:51 left. Molloy had a nine-point advantage 47-38 going into the second half.
The Golden Lions tried to make a comeback when the freshman Ali Mableton (Brentwood N.Y.) added back-to-back jumpers making the score 52-42 with 18:27 left in the second half. A three-pointer from junior Charlie Marquardt (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) put the lions at a 14 point lead with 16:45 to play. Evan Maxwell (East Islip, N.Y.) responded by a jumper making the score 58-46. Around the 14-minute mark of the second half, Morris would bag another three-point field goal; this made shot would push the junior over the 1,000-point plateau for his career in a significant milestone for the Lions (Williams had already crossed the barrier earlier this year). The maroon and white had their biggest had their biggest lead of 24 points until Mableton and Ryan Hickey (Smithtown, N.Y.) responded both with jumpers to make the score 82-62 in favor of Molloy. Vincent Abbandola (Bayport, N.Y.) responded for the Golden Lions by making a three-pointer to stop the Molloy rally, but it was much too late for Dowling to make a serious charge. Molloy ended up finishing the contest with a jumper by freshman Mike Torre (Massapequa, N.Y) ending the score with the 101-85 win.
As a team, the Lions shot 59.3% (35-59) from the field while holding Dowling to a 44.1% rating from the field. The maroon and white held a 40-34 rebound advantage as well as ending with a 44-30 margin in the paint. Morris finished with a game-high 25 points, reaching 1,000 points for his carerand completed a double-double with ten boards and six assists. Williams added 24 points with Marquardt and Bowles adding 18 and 15 points respectively. For Dowling, Mableton provided 18 points, while Maxwell and scored 15 points each. In addition, Chris Millender landed a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds.
 The Molloy men's basketball team will host their next game against Daemen College at Quealy Gymnasium on Friday February 26th at 7:30 p.m. If you cannot make Friday's game, be sure to check out our YouTube channel for a live audio and video broadcast. Be sure to follow Molloy College Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the latest up-to-date information about your favorite Lions programs.
