FLUSHING, N.Y. – Four players scored in double-figures as the Queens College men's basketball team defeated the visiting Saints of D'Youville University 63-56 in East Coast Conference action Thursday night.
With the win, the Knights extended their win streak to three games improving to 11-10 overall, 9-8 in ECC play, while the Saints dropped to 2-22 overall, 1-15 in conference action.
Queens earned their second conference sweep of the season and will have a chance to clinch a home playoff game Wednesday (Mar. 2) with a victory over Daemen College Wildcats Saturday (Feb. 26) afternoon.
How It Happened
It was a quick start for the home side as the Knights went ahead 11-4 at the 16:31 mark before the Saints went on a 9-0 run from 15:25 to 12:34 and took a 13-11 lead.
But the Knights would quickly tie the game as senior
Eddie Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y.) found classmate
Evan Goldberg (Wantagh, N.Y.) for an open layup before a jumper from freshman
Jayden Seraphin (Lakeview, N.Y) put the Knights up 15-13 with 11:19 left in the first half.
The Saints would continue to keep the game close before Seraphin and Mehmetaj went on a 7-0 run and put the Knights up by 10, 29-19 with 1:39 until halftime. Queens would take a 31-23 lead into halftime.
With the Knights leading 39-30, the Saints went on a 6-0 run and got within three, 39-36 with 14:43 left to play in the second half. Led by freshmen
Caudy Desmornes (Baldwin, N.Y.) and
Tanner McFarlane (Chester, N.Y.) 7-0 run, Queens went up by 10, 46-36 to take control of the game.
D'Youville would attempt to cut into Queens' lead as they trimmed the advantage down to seven, 49-42 at the 8:56 mark but the Knights took an 11 point lead, their largest lead of the game with 6:30 left in the game to seal the victory.
By the Numbers
Four players scored in double-figures for the Knights as Seraphin notched a near double-double with 14 points (4-of-15 FG, 3-of-4 3PT) and nine rebounds, while Mehmetaj tallied his sixth double-double of the season with 12 points (4-of-7 FG) and 17 rebounds
(career-high) in the victory.
Junior
Tyler Carey (Bayshore, N.Y.) tallied 12 points (5-of-8 FG) with seven rebounds, three assists, six blocks
(career-high), while Desmornes earned his sixth start of his young career and tallied 10 points (4-of-12 FG) with six rebounds.
Queens shot 37.7 percent (23-of-61) from the field, 11.1 percent (2-of-18) from beyond the arc, while D'Youville was held to 34.3 percent (23-of-67) from the field and were blank (0-of-12) from three.
For the second time this season, the Knights shut out a team from downtown as Saints went 0-of-12 from downtown. They shut out the District of Columbia on Saturday (Feb. 5) holding the Firebirds to 0-of-5 from three-point land. Queens won the rebounds battle with a 58-38 margin.
UP NEXT: The regular season concludes on Saturday (Feb. 26) as they welcome Damen to Flushing. Tip-off set for 1:30 p.m.
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