By Dylan Butler
The Queens College men's basketball team, already struggling in the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference, was dealt a crushing blow Monday afternoon. The Knights, devastated by injuries to two starters, learned a third was academically ineligible on the first day of the spring semester.
But despite not having guards Dror Gal, who tore his meniscus in his right knee, Gary DeBerry, who was out with a sprained right ankle, and forward Kenny Parker, who was ruled academically ineligible, Queens College rallied and defeated Southampton, 68-63, at Fitzgerald Gymnasium.
With the team desperate for someone to step up and produce, freshman sharp-shooter Dave Trani answered the call. The 6-foot-3 forward from Northport, L.I. led the Knights with 17 points. Sophomore point guard Philip Lyons added 14 points and five assists for Queens (6-12, 5-9 NYCAC).
“We can't do anything about the injuries,” Queens College head coach Kyrk Peponakis said. “The other guys will have to play now, and they will play well. We got a lot from a lot of people, now we're down a couple of guys and the other guys have to step up and play. It's not foreign material to them.”
According to Peponakis, Gal, the team's leading scorer and a second team All-NYCAC preseason selection, is scheduled for surgery Thursday and is expected back in two to three weeks. DeBerry, the conference's preseason Rookie of the Year, should be out for about a week, the coach added.
Parker, a first team All-NYCAC preseason selection, was second on the team in scoring (11.6 points per game) and led the team with 7.4 rebounds a game. Picking up the slack on the glass was sophomore center Jurrell Bonaparte, who had a game-high 11 rebounds and two blocks, and sophomore forward William Hooks, who added nine points and six boards. Queens College out- rebounded Southampton, 45-23.
After not making a trip to the free throw line in the first half, the Knights took 25 second half foul shots, making 20 of them. Queens also made seven more free throws than the Colonials.
“They just outplayed us,” said Southampton head coach Charlie Peck. “They got to the loose balls, out-rebounded us, got to the foul line more, set great screens. We came out flat. Their team was more aggressive.”
Southampton (10-9, 9-6) jumped out to an early 15-8 lead on a three-pointer by Keith Bogad from the right side, with 10:36 left in the first half. That's when Trani hit some of his biggest shots of his collegiate career. With the Knights struggling from three-point range, Trani knocked down back-to-back treys to bring the Knights to within 17-14. After a lefty layup by Steve Sikiric, Trani scored his 10th point of the game on a layup of his own from Sikiric to put Queens ahead, 18-17, with 8:33 remaining in the first half.
The Colonials regained the lead, going ahead, 26-21, on an NBA three from the top of the key by Curtis Small (16 points). The Knights outscored Southampton, 11-5, in the final four-and-a-half minutes of the first half, capped by Trani's third three of the first half, to go into the break ahead, 32-31. Queens would not trail again.
“Trani played a great game, he came off screens, got the ball in good shooting position,” Peck said. “He really beat us.”
Southampton senior guard Alvin Pierce tied the score at 44 with a baseline trey with 8:27 left in the second half, but the Knights went on a 7-0 run, capped by a Trani putback from the right blocks, to go ahead, 51-44, with 6:12 left.
Small came right back for Southampton, shaking Trani to the floor with his dribble before popping a three from the top of the arc to bring the Colonials to within four. But Hooks answered Small's highlight with one of his own, sending down an emphatic baseline slam to put Queens ahead, 53-47, with 5:03 left as Southampton called a timeout.
An eight-foot jumper by Lyons put the Knights up 59-52 with 1:40 left and it appeared Queens had the game in hand. But Southampton rallied. Mark Person had a baseline slam and Small added a trey from the left wing to make it a 59-57 game with 1:01 left.
After Small was called for a blocking foul at mid-court and Lyons knocked down two free throws, the 5-foot-11 guard scored on a runner in the lane as Queens' lead was just 61-59 with 43.7 seconds left in regulation. But the Knights went 7-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch to clinch the win.
Person had 13 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and two steals for Southampton. Pierce added 10 points. Sikiric had nine points and four assists for Queens, which heads to Mercy College Thursday night before hosting C.W. Post Saturday night at 8 p.m.
New Jersey Tech 72, Queens College 63. Trani had 21 points as the Knights fell in Newark on Saturday afternoon. Parker was the only other Knight in double figures, scoring 12 points while grabbing a team-high seven rebounds in what turned out to be his final collegiate game.
