FLUSHING, N.Y. – On Senior day, the Queens College men's basketball team fought hard but a sluggish second half would result in a 67-55 East Coast Conference loss to the visiting Wildcats of Daemen College Saturday afternoon.
With the loss, the Knights move to 11-11 overall, 9-9 in conference play to conclude the regular season, while the Wildcats improved to 19-8 overall, 16-2 in ECC play.
The Knights finish the regular season with a .500 record for the first time since the 2016-2017 season when they finished 13-12 overall and 10-8 in conference play. The nine conference wins are the most since the 16-17 season.
Despite the loss on Saturday, head coach
Matt Collier and the Knights finish fourth in the conference standings and will host the Roberts Wesleyan College Redhawks Wednesday (Mar. 2) evening. The fourth-place finish is the highest in ECC play since the 2010-11 season when they finished in third place with a 16-5 conference record.
Prior to tip-off, the Knights honored their graduating seniors
Eddie Mehmetaj (Jamaica, N.Y.) and
Evan Goldberg (Wantagh, N.Y.) in their annual Senior day ceremony.
How It Happened
Queens hung in with Daemen in the early going as they trailed 7-6 just before the first media timeout. After sophomore
Dion Herrington (Englewood, N.J.) tied the game 9-9 at the 14:06 mark, the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run taking a 16-9 lead before Mehmetaj stopped the drought at the 11:12 mark.
But Daemen would continue to build their lead as they led by as much as nine points for the majority of the first half.
Queens stayed determined as they fought back from 4:18 to :45 to end the first half on a 13-2 run. Led by Herrington and freshman
Caudy Desmornes (Baldwin, N.Y.) the Knights would go 5-of-6 from the field as they held the Wildcats to 1-of-5 from the field in that period.
The Knights took a slim 32-30 lead heading into halftime.
Daemen opened the second half on a 5-0 run as they took a 35-32 at the 18:06 mark. Mehmetaj would bring the Knight within one, 35-34 before Queens was held scoreless for 4:54 as the Wildcats went on an 8-0 run taking a 43-34 lead with 12:58 left in the game.
Queens would continue to make several runs as they kept the game within two possession. Trailing by 10, 55-45, the Knights would get cut the deficit down to four, 59-55 with 3:27 to play but a 6-0 run by the Wildcats would erase any chance of completing a comeback as the Knights fell 67-55 on Senior day.
By the Numbers
Herrington scored a team-high 16 points (6-of-10 FG) to lead the offense, while Desmornes tallied nine points (3-of-9 FG) with four rebounds.
Queens shot 40.0 percent (22-of-55) from the field, 42.9 percent (6-of-14) from beyond the arc, while Daemen shot to 48.1 percent (26-of-54) from the field and 35.3 (6-of-17) from three.
UP NEXT: Postseason play returns to Flushing for the first time since the 2010-11 season as the Knights welcome the Redhawks on Wednesday (Mar. 2) evening. Tip-off set for 7:00 p.m.
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