WASHINGTON, D.C. – A four-game road trip came to a close on Wednesday evening as the Queens College men's basketball team matched up against the Firebirds of the University of the District of Columbia inside E.B. Henderson Sports Complex in East Coast Conference play.
The offense was led by senior
Malik Bentinck (St. Albans, N.Y) who recorded his 12
th double-double of the year with a team-high 18 points and 13 rebounds, while senior
Sunnie Diamond (Atlanta, GA) recorded 15 points but a comeback rally would fall short as Queens fell to the final score of 81-72.
With the loss, the Knights move to 12-14 overall and 6-9 in ECC play, but with Molloy University's loss to College of Staten Island, Queens have earned the final spot in the ECC Postseason Tournament set to start next Wednesday (Mar. 6).
East Coast Conference Scenarios
Entering the final game of the regular season against CSI on Saturday Queens will begin in sixth place in the ECC standing.
The Knights can still move to fifth if:
- Queens defeats CSI and UDC falls to Molloy
- However, a loss on Saturday will keep the Knights in sixth place as they hold the tiebreaker over Molloy (Queens split with Daemen, Molloy fell 0-2 on the year) if Molloy defeats UDC or UDC defeats Molloy.
GAME RECAP
It would be a back-and-forth game in the early going as both sides traded leads. With Knights leading 8-7, the Firebirds would go on a 5-0 run to take a 12-8 lead with 12:43 left in the first half.
A three-pointer from sophomore
Eric Tynes (Springfield, MA.) would bring the Knights within one, 12-11 at the 12:03 mark, but the home side would go on a 4-0 run to take a 16-11 lead by the 9:58 mark.
UDC would build a lead as big as five by the 7:54 mark as they held 20-15 before the Knights answered going on a 9-0 run to take a 24-20 lead at the 5:35 mark.
But the home side would come back to tie the game at 24-24 before both sides traded buckets. With the Knights leading 28-26 with 2:43 to go, UDC would end the first half on a 9-2 run as they took a 35-30 lead at halftime.
The Firebirds opened the scoring to begin the second half as they took a seven-point lead of 37-30 before Diamond and Bentinck combined for five points to get Queens within two, 37-35 with 16:30 to go.
The Knights would continue their run as they took a one-point lead of 40-39 by the 15:18 mark. But the Firebirds answered with an 11-6 run to take a 50-46 lead with 12:46 left in the game.
As Queens continued to keep the game close free throw shooting would help UDC stay ahead as they held by seven points, 63-56, heading into the under-eight media timeout.
With the Knights still searching to get the offense going, the Firebirds would take a nine-point lead before Diamond and Bentinck combined for four points to get Queens within five, 65-60 by the 6:40 mark.
However three missed field goals and turnovers would see the Firebirds go on a 5-0 run to take a 10-point lead of 70-60 forcing a Knights timeout at the 4:45 mark.
Queens would get within nine points, 71-62 at the 4:21 mark but it would be the closest the Knights would get within of a comeback as Queens dropped the ECC contest to the final score of 81-72.
By the Numbers
- Bentinck recorded his 12th double-double of the year with 18 points (7-of-17 FG, 4-of-5 FT), 13 rebounds, and two assists.
- Diamond notched 15 points, six rebounds, six assists, three steals, and two blocks on the evening.
- Junior Shamar Chester (Queens, N.Y.) tallied nine points with seven assists and six rebounds.
- Tynes and junior Zyeir Lawrence (Oneonta, N.Y.) combined for 16 points, seven rebounds, two blocks, and one steal on the night.
- As a team, the Knights were held to 40.0% going 28-of-70 from the field, while the Firebirds shot 39.4% on 26-of-66 shooting.
- Queens held a rebounding margin of 50-43 and recorded 19 second-chance points.
- The Firebirds tallied 19 points on 19 Knights' turnovers.
Next Game
The Knights get set to close the regular season on Saturday (Mar. 2) afternoon as they welcome the Dolphins of College of Staten Island to town on Senior Day. Tip-off set for 1:00 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), X (Formerly Twitter) (@QCKnights), Queens College MBB (@QCKnights_MBB) and Instagram (qcknightsny), men's basketball (qcmensbball).
