FLUSHING, N.Y. – Trailing by five at halftime, the Queens College men's basketball team rallied back as five Knights scored in double-figures led by sophomore
Sunnie Diamond (Hiram, GA) first career triple-double as the Knights defeated the visiting Alliance University 88-73 inside the friendly confines of Fitzgerald Gymnasium Wednesday evening in non-conference action.
Game Recap
The Knights tallied the first bucket of the game as sophomore
Shamar Chester (Queens, N.Y.) opened the scoring with a layup before Alliance tallied back-to-back buckets to take a 4-2 lead.
Senior
Tyler Carey (Bay Shore, N.Y.) would respond with two layups of his own as Queens took a 6-4 lead. Both sides would continue to answer each other as they traded leads. With the Knights trailing by one, 10-9, Chester would start an 8-2 run with sophomore
Elijah Blackman (Queens, N.Y.) recording four points as the home side took a 17-12 lead with 11:38 left in the first half.
Alliance would start to cut into the Knights' lead as the visitors went on a 12-7 run to tie the game 24-24 just before the Under-eight media timeout.
As Queens struggled to get their offense going late in the first half, Alliance went on a 13-4 run as they took a 37-28 lead with 1:44 left until halftime forcing a Knights timeout.
Trialing by nine, 37-28, Carey and sophomore
Jayden Seraphin (Lakeview, N.Y.) tallied two layups to cut the deficit down to five, 37-32 heading into halftime.
The Knights defense would hold Alliance offense scoreless in the final 1:44 of the first half as the first half saw the score tied four times and five lead changes. Despite both teams shooting 50.0% from the field, the Knights were 0-6 from long distance, while Alliance went 4-10 from three-point land.
Queens who were unable to make a shot from long distance in the first half, second-half adjustment saw Diamond and Blackman open the second half with back-to-back from long distance as the home side cut the deficit down to one, 39-38 with 18:43 remaining in the game.
As the Knights' offense started to get hot, they were unable to get stops on the defensive end as the visitors continued to stay in front.
With the Knights trailing by five, 51-46, Seraphin and Diamond would quickly bring the deficit down to one, 53-52 at the 12:48 mark before a three-pointer from sophomore
Tyron Wright (Camby, IN) put the Knights up 55-53 at the 11:24 mark.
After the visitors tied the game back at 55-55 at the 11:14 mark, the Bay Shore native Carey would tally five straight points to start a 10-1 run as the Knights took a nine-point edge of 65-56 with 8:35 remaining in the game.
With plenty of game still left and Alliance capable of making a comeback as the Knights held a seven-point lead of 67-60 with 7:23 left in the game, Diamond would matters into his hands.
The Hiram native facilitated a 21-10 run as he recorded four points and assisted on 15 of the 21 points as Queens defeated Alliance 88-73 to earn their third victory of the year.
With the win, the Knights improved to 3-2 overall and earned their second straight victory of the season at home.
Game Highlights
- Five Knights recorded double-digits led by Diamond's first career triple-double with a career-high 18 points (8-18 FG), 12 rebounds, and 10 assists.
- Diamond's triple-double is the first one recorded by a Knight since the 2015-2016 season when Tyree White recorded 15 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in the win over Roberts Wesleyan on February 26, 2016.
- Carey recorded a season-high 15 points (6-9 FG) with five rebounds and season-high four blocks, and Wright notched a career-high 13 points (5-5 FG, 3-3 3PT) with five rebounds.
- While Chester (4-5 FG) and Seraphin (5-6 FG) combined for 24 points.
- The Knights won the boards battle with a 38-27 edge and tallied 22-13 second-chance points.
- Queens shot a season-high 56.5% from the field with a 35-62 shooting performance, including a searing 62.50% in the second half with a 63.64% shooting performance from long distance (7-11 3PT) as they held Alliance to 46.8% on 29-62 shooting performance.
NEXT GAME: Following the Thanksgiving break, head coach
Matt Collier and the Knights open a three-game road stand beginning with a trip to Springfield, Massachusetts on Sunday (Nov. 27) afternoon as they match up against the Yellow Jackets of American International College. Tip-off is set for 2:00 P.M.
For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), Twitter (@QCKnights), Queens College MBB (@QCKnights_MBB) and Instagram (qcknightsny), men's basketball (qcmensbball).
