FLUSHING, N.Y. (Feb. 19, 2020) - Before the Queens College men's basketball team could take the floor against the St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans Wednesday night (Feb. 19), they first had to honor those in their final days with the program as part of Senior Night.
Shomari Redd first arrived at QC before the 2018-19 season and went on to score more than 300 points and dish over 100 assists during his two years. Kevin Buron averaged 4.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game across three seasons with the Knights. Wayne Li blocked 61 shots in just 65 games in three seasons at Queens. Finally, team manager Scott Sternlieb has been a constant presence on the sidelines for the Knights and a vocal leader on the bench providing support for the team as well.
But in a game they started encouragingly, the Knights were unable to fully carry over the celebratory vibe in their final home game of the season, falling to St. Thomas Aquinas by the final score of 80-58.
Queens is now 7-17 on the season and 5-9 in East Coast Conference play; the visiting Spartans improved to 21-4 and 11-2 in league action with the win.
QC went into the halftime up by three points against the second-best team in the conference thanks to an analytically-friendly shot chart that saw just two of their 27 shots taken outside the restricted area -- two other attempts came right on the outskirts of the restricted arc. They hit seven of their eight attempts in the painted area along with five makes from beyond the arc.
Unfortunately, the script flipped entirely in the second half for both sides. STAC burst out of halftime with a 9-0 run to take a six-point lead and never looked back en route to their second straight victory. The Knights shot just 6-of-28 from the field in the second half, coughing up nine turnovers in the frame and missing 15 of their 20 attempts from downtown. They were outscored by a whopping 48-23 margin in the second half. The Spartans, in turn, converted on as many 3-pointers as QC's field goals over the game's latter 20 minutes on just 11 attempts, shooting 18-for-30 as a team.
QC was led in scoring by junior guard Elijah Bovell, who finished with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Buron and Dwayne Henry Jr. each added twelve points in the effort. STAC's Osbel Caraballo had a game-high 26 points to lead the Spartans in the win.
For the Knights, the contest was coupled with other results that were important for the final stretch and playoff push. Molloy's win over Mercy put the Lions to the No. 4 seed in the ECC standings while District of Columbia held on to the fifth seed as the Firebirds were idle on the day. New York Tech's loss to Bridgeport keeps them at the No. 6 seed with a 5-8 record and the Knights follow closely behind.
Two games remain in the season for Queens College, with the first one on Saturday (Feb. 22) at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry at 2 p.m.
