SPARKILL, N.Y. – Continuing their road trip, the Queens College men's basketball team traveled to Sparkill, N.Y. for an East Coast Conference matchup against the Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas College inside Aquinas Hall Saturday afternoon.
Three Knights scored in double-figures led by a team-high 23 points from senior
Sunnie Diamond (Atlanta, GA), while the junior duo of
Zyeir Lawrence (Oneonta, N.Y.) and
Shamar Chester (Queens, N.Y.) recorded 18 points and 17 points respectively to lead the charge but the Knights were unable to complete a second-half rally as they fell to the final score of 110-95.
With the loss, the Knights move to 12-13 and 6-8 in ECC play and are in fifth place entering the final week of the regular season.
GAME RECAP
The first 20 minutes of the game would be a back-and-forth affair with Spartans leading as high as seven points at the 17:00 mark.
But as the Knights rallied with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 12-12 with 14:55 to go, both teams would trade leads for the remainder of the half.
With the Spartans leading 50-46, Queens would end the final 2:02 of the first half on an 8-3 run to take a slim lead of 54-53 heading into the locker rooms at halftime.
The Spartans opened the second half on a 7-0 run to take a six-point of 60-54 with 18:20 to go.
Queens would attempt to cut their deficit down to as small as four points on three separate occasions but with the Spartans shooting 51.1% in the second half compared to Queens 41.1%, it would be the Spartans who would complete the series sweep on Saturday afternoon.
By the Numbers
- Diamond led the Knights scoring a team-high 23 points (7-of-16 FG, 3-of-8 3PT, 6-of-6 FT) to go with four assists, two blocks, two rebounds, and one steal.
- Lawrence recorded 18 points (6-of-8 FG, 3-of-3 3PT, 3-of-3 FT) with two rebounds and one steal.
- Chester recorded 17 points (7-of-17 FG, 1-of-4 3PT, 2-of-2 FT) to go with four assists, three rebounds, and two steals.
- As a team, the Knights shot 50.7% going 35-of-69 from the field, while the Spartans shot 49.4% on 44-of-89 shooting.
Next Game
The Knights conclude the road trip on Wednesday (Feb. 28) evening with a trip to Washington, D.C. as they match up against the Firebirds of the University of District of Columbia. 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).
