Rockville Centre, N.Y. (Nov. 26, 2017) – Led by three players in double-digits, the Molloy men's basketball team opened up the home portion of its schedule, falling 79-70 to Assumption College. The Lions fall to 1-5 on the year with the loss, while the Greyhounds pick up the first win of the season.

Junior Chris O'Reilly tallied a career-high 16 points, shooting 6-of-11 from the field. Junior Curtis Jenkins also scored 16 points while adding a game-high four assists. Sophomore Nick Corbett led all scorers with 22 points. Sophomore Josh Dennis led the maroon and white with eight rebounds and nine steals.

Molloy trailed by five points with just over nine minutes to play in the first half. Back-to-back triples from O'Reilly and freshman Steven Torre, however, put the Lions in front, 22-21. Matthew Healy of the Greyhounds was sent to the line for three shots to put the visitors ahead by two, but a jumper from Jenkins tied the contest.
O'Reilly then single-handedly put the maroon and white up by seven with two layups and a trey with five minutes left in the half. Molloy went into the locker room ahead, 34-31.

Corbett and sophomore Nolan Kelly each added three-pointers early in the second half to put the Lions up by five, 42-37. Assumption, however, went on an 8-2 run to tie the contest, 44-44. A triple from Ben Vujadinovic put the visitors ahead, 47-44. After trailing by as many as 11 points, the maroon and white strung together a nine-point rally to come within two, 63-61, with six minutes left to play. Despite the effort, the Greyhounds would not give up the lead for the remainder of the contest, helped by 13 points from Kelly and 11 points from Vujadinovic in the second frame.

The Lions held an advantage in points off turnovers (23), second chance points (11) and bench points (23), but were out-rebounded 38-28. Assumption also led in shooting percentage, shooting 25-of-50 (50%) from the field.

Next up, Molloy will face another local Division I opponent in Hofstra University. Tip-off on Thursday (Nov. 30) is slated for 7:00 p.m. at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex.