By Carter Schum | February 24, 2025
On Saturday, the University at Albany Men’s Basketball team fell to the New Hampshire Wildcats 71-60 as the team celebrated Senior Night.
Senior members of the men’s basketball team with head coach Dwayne Killings (middle) being honored on Senior Night.
Photo Credit: Bob Mayberger / UAlbany Athletics
“We didn’t have it today and we came out flat,” UAlbany head coach Dwyane Killings said of his team's play.
The Great Danes started strong, as they jumped out to an 8-2 lead inside the first 4 minutes of play. The Wildcats answered back however, as they would go on a 7-1 run to tie the game 9-9 with 13 minutes remaining.
UAlbany responded with a 5-0 run of their own, highlighted by a deep three-pointer from Albany native Zach Matulu.
The Wildcats answered back with a 7-0 run to gain the lead for the first time, leading 16-14 with 8:30 left in the first half.
Each team got looks in the next portion of the action. However, it was the Wildcats who were in front 21-19 with just under five minutes remaining in the first half.
The rest of the first half was dominated by New Hampshire as they outscored the Great Danes 10-2 to go into the break with a 31-21 advantage.
The UAlbany offense was ice cold, as they went 6-33 from the field - just 18.2 percent. The Great Danes had a scoreless run of nearly five minutes that was only broken by a pair of Byron Joshua free-throws. Joshua, who had a team high seven points in the first half, made the Great Danes last field goal in the first half with 5:35 remaining.
For New Hampshire, Junior Sami Pissis led in scoring with nine points on 4-10 shooting. As a team, the Wildcats tallied four three-pointers on 11 attempts.
The Great Danes offense improved slightly in the opening part of the second half as they tallied seven points in the opening three minutes of the second half to cut the deficit to 35-28, however only three of these points came from the field courtesy of a Justin Neely triple.
Despite the second half improvement, the Great Danes were constantly a step or two behind the Wildcats as they were unable to get any closer than five points away from New Hampshire, who held a 41-35 lead near the mid-way point of the second half.
Junior Kheni Briggs was called for a technical foul with 12:54 remaining in the second half. When asked for his perspective of what happened, Briggs called the play a “misunderstanding.”
The Great Danes offense continued to improve as the second half progressed. However, stops became hard to find as the Wildcats held a 49-42 lead with 7:57 left in the game.
Pissis continued to burn the Great Danes as he hit his third triple of the game to extend the New Hampshire lead to 54-45 with less than five minutes remaining. New Hampshire continued to have their way with the Great Danes as their lead was expanded to 57-47 with 4:16 remaining.
The remaining portion of the game proved to be very similar to how most of the game played out, as the Wildcats continued to be all over the Great Danes.
UAlbany attempted to come back in the final few minutes, however several New Hampshire free throws put the game out of reach with a final score of 71-60.
Joshua would led the Great Danes in scoring with 20 points. For New Hampshire, Pissis finished the game with a backbreaking 27 points.
With the loss, the Great Danes fall to 14-14 overall and 6-7 in America East play. The Wildcats improved to 8-21 overall and 6-8 in America East play.
The Great Danes next game is on Feb. 27, when they travel to take on the UMBC Retrievers. If UAlbany is to finish the season fourth or better in the America East conference, they will play at home on Saturday, March 8, against an opponent to be determined.
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