Panthers Suffer First Loss, 60-57, At Southern Connecticut(it is ok 5-1 for the season)

The Owls went on a 27-9 run in the final nine minutes for the victory.


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With his 19-point effort, Richard Byrd now has 1,011 career points.

With his 19-point effort, Richard Byrd now has 1,011 career points.


Dec. 2, 2009

Box Score

New Haven, CT -

The Adelphi University men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on Tuesday night, 60-57, at Southern Connecticut State University. The Panthers were up by as many as 16 in the second half before the Owls came back. Adelphi drops to 5-1 and 3-1 in the Northeast-10, while Southern Connecticut improves to 1-6 and 1-3 in the league.

Junior Richard Byrd, who was just eight points shy of 1,000 coming into Tuesday's game, tallied 19 to give him 1,011 for his career. Byrd is the 32nd Panther to score over 1,000 points and is currently 30th on the all-time list.

Adelphi jumped out early in the first half by taking a nine point lead and later increasing that margin to 12 at the 3:49 mark. However, back-to-back lay-ups by Harris cut the deficit to six as they trailed at halftime, 31-25. It was a similar story to start the second half as Adelphi came out strong and continued to put the pressure on the Owls as they grabbed a 16 point lead with 9:13 remaining. The momentum was clearly in the Panthers favor but Southern maintained its composure.

Down 52-37 with 7:45 left in the game, freshman Ante Cosic (Brampton, Ontario, Canada) hit a lay-up to begin a 20-0 run for the Owls. Shortly after, Cosic hit consecutive three's in less than a minute as the 15-point deficit was quickly cut to three.

The Owls continued to capitalize off the Panthers' mistakes and with 1:44 left in regulation, freshman Tobin Carberry (Hamden, Conn.) hit two foul shots to give Southern the lead. Over a minute later, sophomore Kieran Ramsey (North Hollywood, Calif.) hit one from behind-the-arc as the shot clock expired, putting his team up five.

Adelphi responded with three points of their own from the line but with 19 seconds remaining, Harris hit three of four foul shots to give Southern a 60-57 lead. With just two seconds to go, sophomore Robert Johnson heaved a desperation three which was no good as Southern handed Adelphi their first loss of 2009.

Joining Harris in double-digits was graduate student Clyde Chapman (Brooklyn, N.Y.). He grabbed a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Ramsey was one point and one rebound shy of another double-double and Cosic added eight clutch points off the bench.

Byrd's 19 led all scorers, while junior David Akinyooye posted a double-double with 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Senior Casey Cosgrove dished out a game-high 10 assists to go along with his eight points and five rebounds.

The Panthers return to action on Saturday, December 5 when they play host to American International College at 3:30 pm at the Center for Recreation and Sport.

i would to congrats as a alumni and fan of adelphi university panthers basketball that junior rich byrd to score over his 1,000 career points and at this moment is 1,011 and yesterday game was very stun and very breakhearting loss for the panthers and it is ok and get right back to our winning ways and starting with northeast-10 conference against aic international college at adelphi 3.30 pm in the new recreation and sports center and will be there in attendance to watch the game and this game will belong to us and rich byrd is the first player since wayne nelson score 1,000 points in his junior year about seven years and this is all i have for now and represents panthers as alumni and fan to the fullest.