ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Feb. 12, 2020) – In the first half of its Wednesday evening (Feb. 12) contest at Molloy College, the Queens College men's basketball team primarily relied on two players that combined for 28 of the squad's 44 points.
By the time the second half rolled around, a third player broke into double figures and the Knights would roll on an 21-8 run to take care of the Lions in an 87-75 statement victory at Quealy Gymnasium.
The win moves Queens to 7-15 overall and 5-7 in East Coast Conference play; consequently, Molloy drops to 5-7 in league action and the defending ECC champions are 8-14 overall for the year.
The contest was a clinic in keeping close possession of the ball during the first half; Queens committed just two turnovers in the opening twenty minutes of play while Molloy gave the ball up just four times. The deadlocked score at the end of the opening period was primarily thanks to a 19-point first-half performance from
Elijah Bovell, who also pulled down six rebounds and was 7-for-13 from the floor, and a nine-point effort from guard
Shomari Redd. It was only 44-44, however, thanks to a last-second lay-up from
Eddie Mehmetaj that evened the score. In the early stages of the second half,
Kevin Buron was a strong force in the low post as he collected his tenth point of the game and helped Queens open up the aforementioned second-half run with
Dwayne Henry Jr. knocking down an exclamation-point three-ball at the midpoint of the second half to give Queens a 65-52 lead.
Molloy responded to Henry's three-pointer with a 7-0 run beginning with a bucket by Pano Pavilidis. A three from Nick Corbett and a jumper by James Montgomery brought Molloy within a 65-59 deficit before
Tyrese Crosdale and Steven Torre traded threes and three-point plays to keep QC ahead by six points at 68-62 with seven minutes to play in regulation. The Lions would not get closer and a Redd trifecta with three minutes to play gave QC a 76-66 edge and iced the contest in favor of the visitors.
Bovell had a game-high 30 points---his third career 30-point game and second of the season---to go along with 11 rebounds in the win. The junior guard put on a spectacular show just a mile or so from his hometown of Baldwin by shooting 11-of-19 from the floor and going 4-for-9 from beyond the three-point line. Redd had 16 points, five rebounds and two assists in the win and Buron finished the game with 10 points and seven rebounds. Mehmetaj added eight points, seven rebounds, five assists and three blocks off the bench. The Knights had one of their best team shooting performances specifically from behind the three-point line; Queens went 11-for-28 (39.3%) from distance in the win and hit 48.6% (34-70) of its shots from the floor.
Corbett led Molloy with 23 points on the night with Torre adding 16 and Pavlidis collecting 14 off the bench for the Lions in the loss.
Queens will head into Saturday's game on a high as the Knights find themselves tied in the conference standings with Molloy and just a half-game behind District of Columbia; the Firebirds were defeated on Wednesday evening at New York Tech and are 5-6 in ECC play. The Knights, meanwhile, will head to Old Westbury to take on the Bears---who are now 4-7 in league competition after the victory against UDC---in a 3:30 p.m. showcase on Saturday (Feb. 15).
