Albany, NY – The Concordia College Clippers men's basketball team were back in action this afternoon as they faced St. Anselm College to conclude the St. Rose Tip-Off Tournament. After finding themselves down by a large margin at the half, the Clippers were unable to mount a comeback as they lost their first game of the season 86-59 to the Hawks.
The first 10 minutes of the first half made for an exciting beginning as neither team could build a large lead in a closely contested battle. This would be as close as the Clippers would get as the Hawks went on a 15-2 run to take a 28-16 lead with six minutes to play in the half. Concordia was unable to slow down their opposition in the closing minutes of the half as St. Anselm went into the locker room with a 46-28 lead.
In the second half, the Clippers still were unable to get into a rhythm offensively as they only converted on three of their first 12 shots in the half. This allowed the Hawks to take a 57-35 lead with under 14 minutes to play.
With St. Anselm hitting over 50% on all their shot attempts in the second half, it allowed them to extend their lead in the late minutes. With the help of 25 points from the Hawks' freshman guard Roy Mabrey (Belmar, NJ), St. Anselm closed out the game winning 86-59 for their first win.
Junior Argelix Gil (Brooklyn, NY) led Concordia with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and recorded a team-high nine rebounds. Junior Brandon Whitaker added 12 points and four rebounds for the Clippers. As a team, Concordia shot only 39.3% (22-of-56) from the field and caused 25 turnovers which allowed the Hawks to score 32 additional points. The bench for St. Anselm outscored the Clippers' bench 21-11.
Concordia (1-1, 0-0 CACC) will now have a few days off until their next contest. The Clippers will host non-conference opponent NYIT on Wednesday, November 16th in the 2nd Annual Jimmy Sayegh Game. The 6:30pm game will take place in the Meyer Athletic Center on the campus of Concordia College.