Men's Basketball Survives Scare From Molloy, Wins 84-80
Box Score
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (Feb. 18, 2012) – The C.W. Post men's basketball team allowed an upset-minded Molloy Lions team to sneak back into the game and take a late lead in the second half, but freshman
Tyuan Williams (Newark, N.J.) hit two clutch free throws with two seconds remaining to tie the game and force overtime, and junior
Tobin Carberry (Hamden, Conn.) scored nine of his game-high 27 points in overtime to help the Pioneer earn a hard-fought 84-80 win on Saturday afternoon at Quealy Gymnasium.
C.W. Post improves to 19-5 overall and remains in first place in the East Coast Conference with a 13-1 record, while Molloy dips to 8-17 overall and 5-10 in conference play.
The Pioneers opened the game with a 17-4 advantage after six minutes of play, and shot well early on, maintaining the double-digit lead and with 6:32 left in the half, the hostsled 26-15. The Pioneers ended the first half on a strong note and led by 11 points, 36-25, at the midway break.
The visitors maintained their lead out of the break and at 13:15, Molloy trailed C.W. Post by eight, 48-40. But three consecutive jumpers – two from John Petrucelli – made the game a two-point contest and with 11:31 the Pioneers led 48-46. A jumper by Matt McLeod at 10:13 tied the contest, but the Pioneers quickly reorganized and pushed back out to a six-point advantage, 56-50, at the 7:55 mark.
Molloy was not done, however, and continued to battle, pulling to within just a bucket only to watch the Pioneers stretch the lead back to six with 4:07 on the clock. But Molloy made its final surge count as they cut the lead all the way down to one following a Petrucellin layup. The sophomore guard gave the Lions their first lead of the contest with a layup at 1:03, and the Pioneers turned the ball over on their next possession and fouled Jimmy Nolan, putting him at the line with 29 seconds to play. Nolan made the first shot, giving Molloy a 67-65 lead, but missed the second, and the Pioneers got the ball back with a chance to win or tie the contest. But two missed shots wound the clock all the way down to 00:02, and Williams was fouled, putting him at the line and setting the stage for his game-tying heroics.
In overtime,
Vaughn Allen (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) nailed a jumper to put the Pioneers back on top, and Carberry followed with a layup and a three pointer to grow the lead to seven (74-67) with 3:47 to play in OT. Molloy would pull to within three points twice, but Carberry's nine points in the OT period were enough to buoy the Pioneers to the victory.
Carberry's 27 points came on 11-21 shooting and a 4-4 effort from the line. Right behind him was
Stefan Bonneau (Middletown, N.Y.) who scored 23 points and added four assists despite combining with Carberry to shoot a dreadful 2-17 from beyond the arc. But despite the shooting difficulties, the Pioneers came away with a 44% shooting for the game (32-72). A 43-37 edge on the glass and a 22 points off turnovers also keyed the Pioneers to the victory, as both Carberry and Williams grabbed nine rebounds and
Terry Coleman (Newburgh, N.Y.) chipped in with 10 points and eight assists.
Petrucelli scored 25 to lead the Lions, who also got 23 points from Matt McLeod and 13 from Nolan.
C.W. Post is back in action on Monday against Dowling at the Pratt Center on President's day with a special start time of 2 p.m.