FLUSHING, N.Y. – Looking to conclude their non-conference slate on a high note, the Queens College men's basketball team welcomed the University of Bridgeport Purple Knights to Fitzgerald Gymnasium Tuesday evening.
In a thrilling back-and-forth contest that saw nine ties and three lead changes, four Knights paced the offense led by junior guard
Jade Tse (Queens, N.Y.) with a team-high 16 points, junior forward
Jaden Pena (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 15 points, while the senior duo of guard
Shamar Chester (Queens, N.Y.) and center
Omar Nkonde (Harlem, N.Y.) recorded 14 and 11 points off the bench with Nkonde sealing the victory with a game-winning lob from Chester as Queens earned a 82-80 victory over the Purple Knights.
With the win, the Knights earned their sixth victory of the year and concluded non-conference play on a strong note entering the weekend's East Coast Conference slate. Tuesday's victory over Bridgeport earned Queens their fourth win over their former ECC foe in five contests and their first home win since the 84-67 victory back on February 20, 2022.
GAME RECAP
It would be the Purple Knights who began the game with a 5-0 lead by the 17:56 mark as the Knights looked to shake off the nearly two weeks of rust as they were playing for the first time since their victory over Holy Family back on December 21, 2024.
A jumper from Pena would get the home side on the board at the 17:37 mark as Queens went on a 9-0 run to take a 9-5 lead by the 15:45 mark.
Bridgeport would end their scoreless drought at the 15:03 mark before Chester fouled behind the three-point lane connected on all three shots at the charity stripe to start a 10-0 run from the 14:16 mark to the 13:00 mark as layups from senior forward
Damiri Lindo (Oakland, CA.), rookie guard
Tyler Michel (Cambria Heights, N.Y.) and a three-pointer from junior guard
Eric Tynes (Springfield, MA.) put Queens up 19-9 and forced a visitors timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Purple Knights would respond with five quick points to cut the advantage down to 19-14 by the 12:04 mark.
The trio of Lindo, Chester, and Pena would trade buckets with the Purple Knights as the Knights continued to maintain a lead of nine points, 27-18 by the 8:38 mark.
As Bridgeport continued to respond, timely offense from Queens would help them keep a lead of 11 points on three separate occasions, the largest lead of the first half.
With Queens leading 33-22 by the 5:59 mark behind a jumper from Tynes, the visitors responded with a 7-0 run to cut the advantage down to four points, 33-29 at the 4:07 mark.
Looking to answer back the duo of Pena and Lindo combined for an 8-4 run as the Knights reextended their lead to eight points, 41-33 with 2:20 left in the first half.
However, the Purple Knights would end the final 2:02 minutes of the first half on an 8-0 run as both teams went into halftime with the game tied at 41-41.
The opening three and half minutes of the second half saw both teams combine for 18 points with Pena leading the charge with four points.
Tied at 50-50 at the 16:38 mark, the visitors would take a 55-50 lead by the 15:19 mark before back-to-back buckets from Nkonde brought Queens within one, 55-54 by the 13:02 mark.
The visitors would continue to keep a five-point edge as Queens looked to get back into rhythm.
A layup from Pena at the 8:26 mark would get the Knights within three, 64-61 at the 8:26 point before the Purple Knights answered with five straight points to take an eight-point edge of 69-61 by the 6:18 mark to go with a double-technical to set up an exciting end to a back-and-forth game.
Tse would end a two-minute scoreless drought for Queens with six straight points as the Knights looked to start a rally as they were able to get within five, 72-67 with 5:17 left in the game.
Over the next minute and a half the scoring would slow down as both sides combined to 0-of-6 from the field, while the Purple Knights extended their lead to seven points, 74-67 by the 3:46 mark at the free throw line.
Led by two made free throws from senior guard
Nasan Ayala (LeFrak City, N.Y.) at the 3:40 mark, Queens would begin their comeback rally. Following a steal from Chester and a layup, the Knights would get within three, 74-71 before the visitors extended their lead back to five, 76-71 with 3:09 left.
With Tse leading the comeback, a three-pointer from the junior guard would start a 9-0 run from the 2:57 mark to the :56 second mark as a jumper from Seraphin tied the game at 76-76 before Lindo and Tse connected with back-to-back jumpers as Queens took an 80-76 lead, their first lead of the half since Pena's opening bucket to begin the second half at the 19:30 mark.
But the Purple Knights would not go away quietly as they cut their deficit down to two at the :43 second mark before taking advantage of a turnover to tie the game at 80-80 with 5.7 left in the game.
In a game that saw a total of nine ties and three lead changes, It would be Queens that would win the Battle of the Knights affair as with 5.7 seconds left in the game, Pena would deliver the inbound pass to Chester at half court before the senior guard delivered the game-winning lob to Nkonde for the game-winning bucket as the Knights completed the comeback victory to the final score of 82-80 to conclude non-conference play.
Over the final 4:14 minutes of the second half, the Knights would complete the comeback with a 15-7 run as they went 6-of-7 from the field while holding Bridgeport to 3-of-6 from the field and forced two turnovers.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Tse paced the offense with a team-high 16 points, three steals, three assists, and two rebounds.
- In the second half, the Queens native led the offense with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting and 3-of-5 shooting from distance to go with three steals.
- Pena tallied 15 points on 50% shooting to go with eight rebounds, one steal and one assist.
- Chester tallied 14 points, five assists, four steals, and two rebounds.
- Nkonde tallied 11 points of which seven came in the second half to go with five rebounds, one block, and one steal in the victory.
- Lindo and Ayala combined for 15 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists.
- Queens turned 19 Bridgeport turnovers into 20 points, while Bridgeport held a slim margin with a 40-39 rebounding advantage but the Knights would use 12 offensive boards for 11 second-chance points in the victory.
NEXT TIP-OFF
The Knights now turn their attention to ECC play beginning on Friday, Jan. 10 as they welcome the D'Youville University Saints to town. Tip-off is set for 5:00 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).
