Rockville Centre, N.Y. – The men's basketball team won its third straight game Thursday evening, defeating Daemen, 81-72, inside Quealy Gymnasium. The Lions improve to 10-16 (9-8 ECC), while the Wildcats fall to 18-8 (15-2 ECC).
 
How It Happened

• After trading baskets to begin the first half, freshman Kenny Lazo sunk a three to give Molloy a three-point lead, 9-6, with 15:44 left in the opening stanza.
• With 12:20 on the clock, graduate student Justin Caldwell hit a jumper to increase the lead to five, 15-10.
• Daemen took a one-point advantage, 18-17, following a layup from Ryan Salzberg with over nine minutes remaining on the scoreboard.
• The Lions put together a 13-4 scoring run highlighted by senior Steven Torre who scored six points. Molloy led by eight, 30-22, with 6:10 to play.
• Junior Frankie Phelan scored his first basket of the game to give Molloy a ten-point cushion, 35-25, with over four minutes remaining in half. 
• Under a minute later, Torre hit a three and went to the foul line to complete a four-point play to put the Lions ahead, 39-27, with under four minutes to go.
• The Wildcats put together a 9-4 run to bring the Molloy lead to seven, 43-36, with 30 seconds left.
• Junior Pierce Boczar hit corner three as time expired to close the first half. Molloy led, 46-36, going into halftime.
• Daemen opened the second half shooting at a 75 percent clip, to close the lead to five, 55-50, with over 14 minutes remaining.
• Molloy reclaimed its double-digit lead, 61-50, following back-to-back layups from Torre and Lazo with 12:49 to play.
• Over the next 1:47, the Wildcats put together a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to two, 61-59, with over 11 minutes to go.
• Torre sank a three to put Molloy up five, 66-61, with 9:13 remaining in the contest.
• It was a defensive battle over the next five minutes of play, as both teams struggled from the field, but a layup from redshirt sophomore Kendell Ogilvie gave the Lions a four-point advantage, 70-66, with over four minutes remaining.
• Torre drew a foul shooting from behind the arc, went to the foul line, and converted three shots to extend the Lions' lead to nine, 75-66, with 2:24 to play.
• Daemen cut the lead to seven, 77-70, but that was as close as it would come, as Molloy closed out the victory 81-72.

 
Top Performances

• Torre paced the Lions with 25 points, shooting 4-of-6 from behind the three-point arc.
• Junior William Muller netted 15 points while shooting 64 percent from the field.
• Lazo tallied 14 points and dished out a game-high six assists.
• Freshman Darren Fergus stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, team-high eight rebounds, five assists, and three steals.
• Molloy shot 50 percent from the field.

 
Up Next
The Lions return home Saturday (Feb. 26) as D'Youville pays a visit to Rockville Centre for the regular-season finale. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.