FLUSHING, N.Y. – In a game that saw four ties and five lead changes, senior guard
Shamar Chester (Queens, N.Y.) dagger from the wing with 58 seconds to go would help the Queens College men's basketball team pull away as the Knights defeated the College of Staten Island Dolphins in East Coast Conference play inside Fitzgerald Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.
Four Knights paced the offense with the duo of Chester and junior guard
Jade Tse (Queens, N.Y.) recording 13 points apiece, while the senior pair of center
Omar Nkonde (Harlem, N.Y.) and forward
Damiri Lindo (Oakland, CA.) put together 20 points with Nkonde recording a double-double with 10 points, a game-and-career high 13 rebounds and a new single game program-and-career record with nine blocks as Queens earned a thrilling 65-61 victory over the Dolphins.
With Saturday's victory Queens ends a four-game slide and a three-game slide against the Dolphins to earn their eighth victory of the year and fourth in ECC play. With an overall record of 4-4 in conference play, Queens moves to third place in the standing with eight games left.
GAME RECAP
The Dolphins raced out to a quick 7-1 advantage by the 17:29 mark before a layup from junior forward
Jaden Pena (Brooklyn, N.Y.) at the 17:13 mark started an 11-0 run for Queens with Tse recording five points as the Knights took a 12-7 lead by the 14:05 mark.
Just as a Dolphins' three-pointer stopped their scoring drought at the 12:56 mark, a Lindo free throw would start an 8-0 run with Ayala converting two free throws and Chester recording five points as Queens took a 20-12 lead with 9:41 remaining in the first half.
It would be an overall run of 19-5 from the 17:13 to 10:15 mark as the Knights shot 7-of-13 from the field while the defense held the Dolphins to 2-of-12 from the field with five turnovers.
However as Staten Island started to recover from their shooting drought, the Knights would go into one of their own as the Dolphins responded with a 13-4 run to retake a 25-24 lead with 24 seconds left until halftime.
Using a timeout, a second chance tipin from Nkonde would ensure Queens would go into halftime leading by one, 26-25.
The opening 2:29 minutes of the second half would see two quick lead changes and one tie as both sides traded shots.
As the Dolphins tied the game at 32-32 with 17:31 left in the contest, Queens would put together a 14-5 run with Chester starting the run with a shot from deep as the Knights took a 46-37 lead with 11:16 left in the game.
As a Nkonde dunk a the 10:04 mark kept Queens' lead at nine, 48-39, the Dolphins responded with an 8-2 run to cut the home's side advantage down to three, 50-47 with 7:27 left.
Over the next five minutes of play, the duo of Tse and Nkonde would continue to keep Queens lead above five before the visitors tied the game at 54-54 with 2:06 left in the contest.
Just as Staten Island tied the game at the free throw line, Tse would convert a conventional three point play for a 57-54 lead.
But the Dolphins would waste little time in answering back as they tied the game at 57-57 for the third time in the second half with a three-pointer at the 1:33 mark.
For the third time in the last four games, the Knights' chance to win a game would come down to the final minute and a half and this time the Queens native Chester ensured his side would walk off of the Lucille Kyvallos Court as winners.
As Tse passed the ball to Chester at the top of the key and shot clock down to 10 seconds, the senior guard Chester would deliver the winning blow with his third three-pointer of the contest as Queens took a 60-57 lead with 58 seconds left in the contest.
Needing to take care of the ball and defend their three points lead over the final minute of play, Queens would force two missed shots with Nkonde
setting a new single-game program record with nine blocks on the defensive end, while the guard duo of Tse and
Nasan Ayala (LeFrak City, N.Y.) converted free throws to ice the game and earn a thrilling 65-61 victory over the Dolphins in ECC play.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Chester recorded 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting to go with five rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks.
- Tse tallied 13 points with 4-of-5 at the charity stripe to go with four rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
- Nkonde recorded his first double-double of the year with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting with a career-best 13 rebounds and nine blocks, two steals, and two assists.
- The nine blocks set a new single-game program record overtaking the previous best of seven blocks recorded by Khalil McDonald against Mercy on January 19, 2011.
- Lindo recorded 10 points, five rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal.
- Ayala recorded nine points, five rebounds, and one steal.
- Seraphin notched four points, three steals, two rebounds, and one assist.
- As a team the Knights set a new single-game record for blocks with 15, overtaking the previous best of 11 set against Mercy on January 19, 2011.
NEXT TIP-OFF
Having concluded the first half of the ECC slate with a record of 4-4 and third place in the standing, Queens will use the week to prepare for the second half of the slate beginning on Saturday, Feb. 1 in Rockville Centre against the Lions of Molloy University. The Knights won the first meeting to the final score of 105-90 back on December 7 in Flushing. Tip-off is set for 2:00 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).
