The Chestnut Hill College Men's Basketball team rallied from an 18-point second half deficit but fell just short as Adelphi University hung on to defeat the Griffins 78-74 at the East Region Challenge hosted by Pace University Saturday night in Pleasantville, New York.

The game was Chestnut Hill's first since February of 2020, a total of over 600 days since the team last played in a game that counted.

Nigel Haughton (10-12 FG), in his Griffin debut led all scorers with 24 points.  Conor Regan (7-12FG) and Joseph Iraldi (8-11 FG) added 19 points apiece.  Regan led the team with seven rebounds while David Erebor added six and had a team-high four assists.

The Griffins trailed by 18, 60-42 with 10:47 left in the game when the team began its comeback.  A pair of free throws by Amir Warrick and baskets from Haughton and Iraldi quickly cut the lead to 12, 60-48.  After a three-pointer from the Panthers, the Griffins went on an 8-0 uprising with four straight baskets without a miss to close within seven, 63-56 with 7:11 left. 

Adelphi pushed the lead back to ten 70-60 at the 5:11 mark with Haughton following with a three-ball and Iraldi adding another following a Panther layup, closing the gap to six, 72-66.  Regan's dunk following an Adelphi turnover pulled Chestnut Hill within four 72-68 with 3:26 left.  The Panther lead then oscillated between five and seven points for the three minutes until a steal and layup from Iraldi made it a one possession game with 13 seconds left, 77-74.  AU's Isaiah Walter made one of two free throws to put the Panthers up by four with nine seconds left but the Griffins however could not come any closer as Adelphi hung on to win 78-74.

The Griffins fell into a big hole early as the Panthers jumped out to a 15-1 lead in the first four minutes.  Chestnut Hill got their first field goal at the 15:11 mark from Noah Charles and Erebor followed shortly thereafter to close the gap to ten 15-5.  Adelphi responded with a 14-6 spurt to push the lead to 18, 29-11 midway through the half.  The Griffins would come as close as 11 as the half continued but a 10-3 run by Adelphi to close out the period put the Panthers up 18 43-25 at the half.

Chestnut Hill shot the ball well, making 64.5% (20-31) of their shots in the second half leading to a 55.6% overall field goal percentage (30-54).  Adelphi connected on 17 three-pointers to Chestnut Hill's three, but the Griffins held an 11-3 scoring advantage from the free throw line.  The Griffins also had a slight rebounding edge, 30-26.

The Chestnut Hill college Men's Basketball Team returns to action on Sunday, November 14, 2021, when they play host Pace University at 4:00 p.m.