FLUSHING, N.Y. – In a battle between two remaining undefeated teams in East Coast Conference play, the Queens College men's basketball team welcomed nationally-ranked #3/4 Daemen University Wildcats to Fitzgerald Gymnasium Sunday afternoon.
Three Knights paced the offense with a team-high 14 points from senior guard
Shamar Chester (Queens, N.Y.), 13 points from senior forward
Damiri Lindo (Oakland, CA.), and 11 points from junior guard
Jade Tse (Queens, N.Y.), but second half shooting struggles would hurt the comeback attempt as Queens fell to the final score of 99-69 against the Wildcats.
With the loss, the Knights move 7-9 overall and 3-1 in conference action.
GAME RECAP
The opening three minutes of the game saw three leads change as the duo of senior forward
Jayden Seraphin (Lakeview, N.Y.) and Tse combined to trade buckets with the Wildcats.
As the Wildcats continued to pound the paint, Chester would lead the Knights' offense as the senior recorded eight straight points in response.
Trialing by 15, 27-12 at the 10:13 mark, a three-pointer from the Chester would start a 12-4 run from the 9:42 mark to the 6:09 mark as the Knights were able to get within seven, 31-24.
Both sides would shoot over 60.0% in the first half, but Daemen rebounding advantage of 13-9 to go with a 10-4 margin on second chance points and 5-of-11 from distance would see the home side trailing by 12, 46-34 at halftime.
It would be a slow start to the second half as both teams combined for eight points, including 1-of-5 start from the field for the Knights.
By the under-12 media timeout, Queens' deficit remained above 10, as they trailed by 13, 58-45 with 11:41 remaining in the game.
However over the next three minutes
(11:41-8:34) of play, the Wildcats would put the game out of reach they went on a 15-3 run to take a 25-point advantage of 73-48, a deficit the Knights were unable to recover as Queens suffered their first ECC loss of the year Sunday afternoon.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Chester led the Knights' offense with a team-high 14 points, three rebounds, and two assists.
- Lindo recorded 13 points, four rebounds, one assist, and one block in the contest.
- Tse tallied 11 points, two assists, one rebound, and one assist in the contest.
NEXT TIP-OFF
The Knights now open a two-game ECC road trip beginning with a trip to Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. on Wednesday, Jan. 15 against the Mercy University Mavericks. The Mavericks enter the week with an overall record of 4-10 and 3-2 in conference play and are coming off a 71-70 victory over the University of the District of Columbia on Saturday afternoon.
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).
