FLUSHING, N.Y. (Feb. 7, 2020) – The Queens College men's basketball team rocketed to a 27-5 start in the opening half of play on Friday (Feb. 7) on its way to a 79-59 victory over Roberts Wesleyan in an East Coast Conference contest at Fitzgerald Gymnasium.
Queens is now 6-14 on the season and 4-6 in ECC play with the victory while Roberts Wesleyan falls to 3-18 on the year in conference competition with the loss.
Shomari Redd led all scorers with 25 points on his best game in a QC uniform; the senior guard went 9-for-11 from the floor and hit three three-pointers in the victory to go along with three assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Elijah Bovell added 15 points with
Dwayne Henry Jr. and
Keenan Gorski scoring 11 and 10, respectively.
Eddie Mehmetaj added 10 rebounds off the bench and
Wayne Li contributed three blocks as well.
The two teams combined to shoot just 3-for-12 in the opening four-and-a-half minutes of action as neither team could get into a flow to begin the contest. However, Queens would vault to a 16-0 run and keep the visiting Redhawks off the scoreboard for seven-plus minutes as the Knights would end the half shooting 16-of-25 (64%) from the field to race out to a 41-19 lead at the halftime break. Bovell and Redd were the main cogs in the wheel for Queens in the opening half; the two guards combined to outscore Roberts Wesleyan (22-19) with Bovell knocking down three shots from beyond the arc and Redd going 5-for-6 from the field in the opening half. To their detriment, the Redhawks would go 0-for-12 from beyond the three-point line in the first half. Eric Lewis made the visitors' first three-pointer of the game in the second half.
Queens would continue to put up good numbers in the second half, shooting 45% (14-31) from the floor in the final period of play to keep Roberts Wesleyan at bay. Amari Lee would finish the game with 16 points to lead Roberts Wesleyan while the Knights prevailed thanks to shutdown defense on the Redhawks' Reggie Clark. Clark, who came into the contest averaging 17 points per game, finished with just two points on a 1-for-7 shooting performance.
Queens will host Daemen College on Sunday (Feb. 9) at 1:30 p.m. inside Fitzgerald Gymnasium.
