Monarchs pull away in second half

David Drucker/Contributing Writer

The men’s basketball team fell to the Old Dominion University 71-56 on Thursday night. Junior forward Adrian Diaz’s 17 points were not enough for the Panthers (9-10) to topple the Monarchs (16-4) as his team failed to pull off a second half comeback.

Old Dominion was able to maintain control for most of the game, but the Panthers threatened to surge ahead in the second half. With 12:06 left in the second half, junior guard Dennis Mavin hit a three-pointer to cut the Old Dominion lead to three. They could not capitalize on that opportunity, however, and also could not tie the game when they pulled within six with 5:41 left; the Monarchs fired off nine straight points and put the game out of reach for the Panthers.

Jonathan Arledge and Trey Freeman led the Monarchs with 17 points apiece. Also scoring 17 was Diaz on 7-12 shooting. Mavin notched a double-double, scoring 16 points and grabbing ten boards, but he did it on just 5-16 shooting.

The Panthers struggled with maintaining possession in the game; they coughed up 14 turnovers to Old Dominion’s six. The Monarchs scored 21 points off these mistakes. Monarch also had their way in the paint, scoring 47 of their 71 points inside.

Old Dominion kept their perfect conference record (11-0 at home) intact with the win. The Panthers fell to 9-10 on the season and 2-4 in the conference.

The Panthers return to action on Saturday when they play the Charlotte 49ers on the road. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.