SPARKILL, N.Y. (Jan. 16, 2019) – The Queens College men's basketball team went possession for possession with the defending East Coast Conference champions from Saint Thomas Aquinas on Wednesday (Jan. 16), but the Spartans were the better team in the second half of an 88-82 thriller at Aquinas Hall in Sparkill.
Shomari Redd played his best game in a Knights uniform with 23 points for Queens (3-13, 3-3 ECC). The junior guard added four rebounds and two assists, shooting 8-for-11 from the field in the effort.
Keenan Gorski added 19 points and
Dwayne Henry, Jr. posted a 17-point performance in the second half. Henry was a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the three-point line in the loss and
Tyrese Crosdale added 11 points and a team-high two blocks.
Kevin Buron collected seven points and five rebounds while Chris Brizan led the team with six rebounds. The Knights shot 51% (25-49) from the field and went 11-for-25 (44%) from beyond the three-point line. More impressively, QC was nearly perfect from the free throw line (21-23, 91.3%).
Saint Thomas Aquinas (14-2, 6-0 ECC) was led by Sekou Cisse's 28-point, 13-rebound double-double. The junior forward went 10-for-16 from the field with three assists and two steals. Demetre Roberts added 19 points with four rebounds, four assists and three steals and Osbel Caraballo scored 16 points with a 10-of-14 performance from the free throw line. The Spartans went 29-of-58 (50%) from the field, 40% (6-15) from the three-point line and 71% (24-34) from the free throw line.
The contest started off fast with Gorski hitting a three-pointer on the game's first possession. A lay-up by Redd one minute later put the Knights ahead by a five-point margin but STAC went on a 15-1 run over the next nine minutes of play to take a 15-6 lead in the opening half. Queens did not regain the lead throughout the remainder of the half, but the Knights worked their way back to an even score with three minutes left in the half. Following a lay-up by Caraballo, Redd scored on back-to-back possessions including a three-ball with one minute to play in the half to bring the Knights within three points at 30-27. Gorski took the last shot of the half; despite his three-point attempt being off, STAC's Louis Griffith was whistled for a foul on the Australian sophomore. Gorski went to the free throw line and hit all three foul shots as both teams went into the half with 30 points aside.
Gorski opened the second half with a three-point play on the opening possession of play, which once again set off a frenzied pace of play in Sparkill. Up 35-32 on a lay-up from Buron, however, STAC went on a 14-0 run with Zachary Rzewnicki's three-ball punctuating the spurt. The Spartans held a 46-35 lead with four minutes played in the half and the Knights spent much of the remaining minutes of regulation playing catch-up. A three-pointer from Henry with less than seven minutes to play brought Queens within a 70-63 deficit and the Knights would cut the deficit to five points (78-73) on another Henry treble with three minutes remaining. STAC, however, would close out the contest to push their unblemished conference win streak up to six.
The Knights host the University of the District of Columbia on Saturday (Jan. 19) at 3:30 p.m. Live stats will be featured on the all-new queensknights.com as well as a video stream for fans who cannot attend the game.
