FLUSHING, N.Y. – Opening a season-high four-game homestand, the Queens College men's basketball team was led by five players in double-figures as the Knights defeated regionally-ranked #10 Cougars of Caldwell University inside Fitzgerald Gymnasium in non-conference play.
Led by junior
Shamar Chester's (Queens, N.Y.) career-high 22 points, and two Knights registered double-doubles in senior
Malik Bentinck (St. Albans, N.Y) recording his third double-double of the season with a career-best 17 points and 15 rebounds, and junior
Dante Griffin (Utica, N.Y.) tallying his first double-double with 15 points and 10 assists. While the junior duo of
Jayden Seraphin (Lakeview, N.Y.) and
Zyeir Lawrence (Oneonta, N.Y.) combined for 26 points as the Knights defeated the Cougars to the final score of 88-79 Tuesday evening.
With the win, the Knights improved their record to 5-3 overall and defeated Caldwell for the first time since January 2, 2011, ending a five-game losing skid over their regional foe.
Match Recap
Matching up against a Top-25 scoring offense team in the nation, Queens matched up quickly in the contest.
As the Cougars opened the scoring at the 19:02 mark, Bentinck wasted little time in responding to open the scoring for Queens at the 18:42 mark.
After Caldwell took a 3-2 lead at the 18:33 mark, Lawrence and the Knights would go on 8-0 run from the 17:50 mark to the 15:55 mark as Queens took a 10-3 lead at the Under-16 media timeout.
After another layup from Lawrence gave Queens a nine-point advantage of 14-5 lead at the 14:11 mark, Caldwell would respond with an And-1 play to bring the score down to 14-6 with 13:09 left in the first half.
Timely buckets from the Cougars would keep the Knights advantage in the single digits over the next few minutes of play.
After a three-pointer from Griffin put the Knights back up by nine, 21-12 with 8:53, both teams would go scoreless over the next minute and a half before a layup from Chester gave Queens an 11-point edge of 23-12 with 7:20 left.
Using a balanced scoring effort, Queens would continue to keep their lead in the double-digits for the remainder of the half.
As the Cougars cut the lead down to 30-20, Chester and Lawrence would end the final 3:38 of the first half on a 7-3 run as the Knights took a 14-point lead of 37-23 at halftime.
The Knights would hold the Cougars to 25.8% on 8-of-31 shooting with seven turnovers for the 14-point advantage.
With the momentum behind them, Queens opened the second half of play on a strong note as they matched Caldwell bucket for bucket as they extended their advantage to 17 points, 46-29 with 17:07 to go.
The Cougars would go on a 6-2 run from the 16:53 mark to the 15:06 mark to cut the lead down to 13 points, 48-35 before a 9-1 run led by Bentinck seven straight points put the Knights up by 21 points lead
(their largest of the game) of 57-36 with 13:14 left in the game.
Caldwell would attempt to rally in the latter stages of the game, but free throw shooting would help the Knights ice the game to earn their first win over Caldwell since the 2010-11 season for an 88-79 victory to open the homestand on a positive note.
By the Numbers
- Chester led the Knights scoring with a career-best 22 points (7-of-10 FG, 2-of-3 3PT, 6-of-8 FT) to go with three rebounds and two assists.
- Bentinck recorded his third double-double of the year with a career-best efforts of 17 points (7-of-16 FG, 3-of-6 FT), and 15 rebounds to go with two steals.
- It would be a near triple-double for Griffin who matched a season-high 15 points (4-of-10 FG, 2-of-2 3PT, 5-of-6 FT) scoring effort to go with 10 assists, nine rebounds, and three steals.
- For the second straight season, a Queens player registered 10 assists in a single game as Griffin matched Sunnie Diamond's (Atlanta, GA) efforts from last season in the victory over Alliance University on November 23, 2022.
- Seraphin recorded a season-high 14 points (5-of-9 FG, 4-of-4 FT) to go with six rebounds, and matched a career-best four blocks on the evening.
- Lawrence tallied a season-best 12 points (5-of-6 FG) to go with four rebounds, two assists, and one block on the evening.
- As a team, the Knights shot 49.2% going 31-of-63 from the field, while holding the Cougars to a season-low of 37.7% on 29-of-77 shooting.
- Queens held a 47-44 rebounding margin including a 34-21 edge on the defensive end.
Next Game
The Knights return to East Coast Conference play on Friday (Dec. 8) evening as they welcome the Saints of D'Youville University to town. Tip-off set for 7:30 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), X (Formerly Twitter) (@QCKnights), Queens College MBB (@QCKnights_MBB) and Instagram (qcknightsny), men's basketball (qcmensbball).
