By Dylan Butler
“I'm happy we're 2-0 and we have some time now to get together and hopefully build from this,” Peponakis said. “It's a good start, especially without two of our better players.”
Peponakis had reason to be pleased. Even without sophomore Dave Trani and top newcomer Anthony Washington who were out with injuries, Queens College had a balanced offensive attack with four players scoring in double figures. After a subpar defensive effort in the first half, the Knights stepped up the intensity in the second half, holding Dominican (1-1) to just 15 second-half points and without a field goal in the final 7:24.
After shooting 52 percent from the field in the first half, the Chargers shot just 20 percent in the second half.
“We stepped up in the second half and started denying them the ball,” said Queens College senior Steve Sikiric, who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. “Our press also caused a lot of turnovers.”
But it was his team's play in the first half that was cause for concern for Peponakis. Much as they did during the team's tournament opener Friday against Caldwell College, the Knights struggled in the first half.
Sloppy ball handling led to steals and baskets for Dominican, which went up 14-12 early when former St. Francis Prep standout John Fitzsimmons (13 points) drove the lane and was fouled.
Queens had a chance to go into the break with a 10-point lead when Sikiric stole the ball at midcourt with a 30-22 lead with 1:41 left in the first half. But Richie Montesarchio took the ball away from Sikiric and laid it in. Todd Klimkowski hit both ends of a one-and-one bonus and the Knights' lead was trimmed to 30-26. Queens went into halftime ahead 32-27.
“I'm disappointed in the effort,” Peponakis said. “We did some good things, there were a lot of positives, but we want to be much better.”
“We start slow and we always pick it up,” said junior point guard Phil Lyons, who led the Knights with 17 points. “It's like we don't play hard until we get mad or coach yells at us.”
Peponakis must have done some yelling at halftime because the Knights came out rejuvenated in the second half. Sikiric (15 points, four steals, four blocks and four rebounds) and McLean (12 points and seven rebounds) led the Knights in a 12-4 run, capped by a steal and a layup by Lyons to put Queens up 48-34 with 13:23 left in the second half.
Dominican got as close as 14, 54-40, on Montesarchio's foul line leaner with 7:24 to play, but the Chargers would not score another field goal as the Knights' defense held Dominican to two free throws by Jamar Snider (14 points) the rest of the way.
“It's not because we did anything different,” Peponakis said. “We just played hard and did what we knew we could do.”
Will Hooks added 10 points and four rebounds for Queens, which opens up its New York Collegiate Athletic Conference slate at Molloy College on Dec. 3.
Sikiric scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, including six in a key 10-0 run to lead the Knights past Notre Dame College in the opener of the Dominican College Tip-Off Classic Friday.
Sophomore Gary DeBerry added 12 points for Queens, which trailed by eight at the half. The Knights held Caldwell to just 19 second-half points.
