FLUSHING, N.Y. – The Queens College men's basketball team dropped its East Coast Conference opener at home to the College of Staten Island Dolphins 67-64 Wednesday night at Fitzgerald Gymnasium. 
 
How It Happened
 
Queens started the game on a 6-0 run before Staten Island got on the scoreboard to cut the score to 7-5 by the 16-minute media timeout. The visitors would tie the game 7-7 before sophomore Tanner McFarlane (Chester, N.Y.) and freshman Jayden Seraphin (Lakeview, N.Y.) tallied back-to-back buckets to retake an 11-7 lead. 
 
Out of the 12-minute media timeout, the Dolphins would reclaim a 12-11 lead before freshman Shamar Chester (Queens, N.Y) and junior William Ellis (Valley Stream, N.Y.) responded with a 6-0 run to take a 17-12 lead. 
 
With the Knights struggling beyond the arc, the visitors would respond with back-to-back treys from three to tie the game 23-23 with 5:33 left until halftime. Seraphin and junior Tyler Carey (Bay Shore, N.Y.) would give Queens a 28-23 lead heading into the four-minute media timeout. 
 
Led by Seraphin's first-half eight points, the Knights would take a slim 31-29 lead into the locker rooms at halftime. 
 
Queens would open the scoring in the second half on a second-chance layup by senior Eddie Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y.) for a 33-29 lead with 19:32 on the clock. The Knights took a 35-34 lead into the 16-minute timeout before Dolphin's Messiah Mallory and Bryce Waterman responded with a 10-0 run to take their biggest lead of the night forcing a Knights timeout. 
 
Trailing 45-37 with 12:56 left on the clock, sophomore Dion Herrington (Englewood, N.J.) would stop the bleeding with a layup. The Dolphins would increase the lead back to seven with Waterman continuing to hit timely threes for a 50-43 lead. The Knights would tie the game 52-52 before Carey gave the home side a 54-52 lead with 6:01 left on the clock. 
 
Mehmetaj would give Queens a 58-56 lead at the free-throw line but would miss the second one as the Knights were unable to increase their to three with 3:52 remaining. With 2:45 left on the clock, Dolphins Michael Ashley would tie the game 58-58 on a second-chance bucket. 
 
With the score tied 58-58 and 2:28 left on the game, Carey missed a one-and-one opportunity to retake the lead and the Dolphins would go on a 7-0 run claiming a 65-58 lead. The Knights went 0-4 in the 7-0 Dolphins run and drop the conference opener to the final score of 67-64. 
 
By the Numbers
 
Four players scored in double-figures led by a career-high 14 points from Ellis (5-of-18 FG) and Carey (4-of-9 FG), while Chester (4-of-10 FG) and Seraphin (4-of-12 FG) tallied 10 points. Mehmetaj tallied a game-high 10 rebounds and career-high eight rebounds from Carey.
 
Waterman led the Dolphins with a game-high 19 points (7-of-12 FG) and 4-of-6 from three in the second half. 
 
Queens shot a season-low 36.4 percent (24-of-66) from the field and 13.3 percent (2-of-15) from three. Dolphins shot 46.4 percent (26-of-56) from the field and 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from beyond the arc. 
 
The Knights dropped their second game in a row to fall to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in ECC play, while the Dolphins improved to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
 
UP NEXT: The Knights will travel to the nation's capital on Saturday (Dec. 11) as they take on the University of the District of Columbia Firebirds. Tip-off set for 3:00 p.m.
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