Dillon Flanigan – Contributor
Despite a valiant comeback effort, the men’s basketball team fell short in a heart-wrenching defeat from Adelphi University. The building, once filled with hope, echoed with disappointment as inconsistency sealed their fate.
The Owls took their home court at James Moore Fieldhouse, facing the Adelphi Panthers of Long Islands’ Hauppauge, New York. The Owls fell 69-66 in a nailbiter, losing their second NE10 in-conference game of the year. Their record falls to 3-2.
“No one wants to lose, definitely at home, so it was tough. Coach came in there, telling people we got to do this now. But we’ll get back; it’s still early in the season,” guard Marty Silvera, a junior, said.
In the first half, Silvera made a pull-up jumper to put the first point on the board. Then the Owls quickly took a 9-0 lead.
Adelphi went on a 13-3 scoring run, the Panthers leading 13-12. With ten minutes left in the first half, forward Josh McGettigan, a graduate transfer from Saint Rose, made a pair of free throws.
The Panthers responded within a minute with a three-pointer to take the lead again and a step-back jumper to add on. A decline of consistency in play thanks to increased fouls, turnovers and a buzzer-beater by Silvera, led to the Owls facing a deficit the rest of the half, trailing the Panthers 32-30 at halftime.
At halftime, the Owls regrouped and adjusted their objectives. Two keys were to stay focused on defense and stop fouling.
“Coach came in at halftime and said we got to stop fouling. We just moved our feet a little second half, played a little defense and just stick to this principle on defense, and that’s how you come back. I told you defense start off offense,” said Silvera said.
A minute into the second half, Silvera and the Owls were the first to score, tying the score at 32. The well needed break at half seemed to do the trick as the Owls started to shoot the ball better and clean up the fouls.
At the 15-minute mark, Silvera stole the ball and drained a three-pointer. On back-to-back offensive Panther possessions, each resulted in three-point baskets. The first tied the score, and the second took the lead, 42-39.
“We’re sticking together and just having faith in everyone that comes in the game and everyone that is on our team. We’re going to get out there, and we’re going to try our best,” McGettigan said.
Although the Owls kept in reach, the Panthers maintained the lead for the rest of the game. At one point, the university had an uphill battle with a 12-0 deficit late in the half.
Sitting in a 61-49 hole, the Owls put together an offensive push to score. With help from forwards Kazell Stewart and Cherif Diarra, sophomores, and McGettigan and Silvera, the Owls narrowed the deficit to two at 68-66 with seven seconds remaining.
Fans were sitting on the edge of their seats as time expired. Diarra could not get the shot off in time, and the Owls fell in a game that went down to the wire.
Consistency from start to finish was the goal shared by the coach post-game.
“You got to fight for 40 minutes to win games,” Head Coach Scott Burrell said.
Silvera’s stat line read as three rebounds, four steals, seven assists and 27 points: a career high. Even though his performance was noteworthy, he echoed what his coach said post-game.
“Our main problem is staying together the whole 40 minutes,” Silvera said.
After a tough loss, the team was visibly frustrated.
“We are very hungry. We should be 2-0 in-conference right now, but it didn’t go that way. So, when we come back from break, I know all the guys are going to be 100% hungry and focused and ready,” Silvera said.
Contributions came from others, including Diarra who carved out six points, one steal, five assists and nine rebounds in over 27 minutes as McGettigan totaled ten points, three rebounds and one assist in the contest.
Stewart had a productive game in his own right. He recorded a steal, seven rebounds and three blocks defensively; but on the offensive side, he had 12 points with an assist.
Burrell said: “We had spurts of just relaxing like the game was going to come to us. You got to take a game from a good team, and especially in this league, there’s no games that are gimmies. No matter who you play, it’s going to be a battle.”
