No. 2 Men's Basketball Defeats Molloy In ECC Quarterfinals

BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (March 4, 2009) - The second-ranked men's basketball team remained undefeated on the strength of sophomore guard Gilbert Montalvo's 21 points and senior playmaker Jonathan Schmidt's 19 points, as four other Pioneers scored in double figures to push C.W. Post past Molloy College in East Coast Conference Championship Tournament Quarterfinal action on Wednesday night at the Pratt Recreation Center.

The Pioneers now stand at 25-0 while Molloy's season ends with an 8-20 record.

C.W. Post took an early 4-0 lead in the game, but watched Molloy answer with a 9-0 run that put them up 9-4 over the hosts at 15:46 after a trey from Girard Fitts.  Schmidt's three-point play cut the advantge to two (9-7) with 15:29 to play, but Brian Hutchinson's jumper pushed the Lion lead back to four.  However, Montalvo hit back-to-back treys at 14:47 and 12:54 to give the hosts a 13-11 lead.  

A layup by Nick Carter and a three from Schmidt quickly gave the Pioneers a seven-point advantage, but the visitors kept the game close, cutting the lead to five points after a Carl Palmer jumper at 7:03 (23-18). 

A 23-13 run closed out the half and doubled the host's advantage as the Pioneers went into the halftime break with a 46-31 lead. 

Strong shooting in the second half quickly pushed the lead to 30 points, and CWP would make the lead stand up the rest of the game as a relentless offense saw the Pioneers lead by as many as 38 points and finish with a 98-63 final score.

Montalvo's season-high 21 points came off of 9-of-12 shooting, including three treys, with the sophomore also dishing out eight assists.  Schmidt was stellar as usual, flirting with a triple-double as he scored 19 points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out nine assists.  Kenny Burkes notched a double-double with 10 rebounds and 13 points.  Kellen Scantlebury and Carter each had 11 points, and Lyndon Daniel (St. George's, Grenada).  

Molloy was paced by Brian Hutchinson with 16 points and Ian Thomas-Minor with 12 points.

The Pioneers shot 50% from the floor (37-of-73) and 7-of-20 (35%) from behind the arc.  The held a 46-22 advantage in the paint, and the Pioneer bench outscored Molloy's 45-11.

-Provided by C.W. Post Sports Information department.