ACPHS Men's Basketball staged multiple comeback-attempts on Thursday night, but could not overcome some hot shooting by the SUNY Ulster Senators as they fell by a score of 76-63. The Panthers dropped to 3-2 overall following the loss, while Ulster improved to 1-3.

The Panthers struggled in the opening minutes in this one, allowing the Senators to race out to a 13-5 lead. They cut the deficit to three after a free throw by senior guard Jordan Simmons with a little more than 11 minutes left in the half, but that's as close as they'd come in the first. The Senators were stifling on the defensive end, holding Albany to 9-34 from the floor (26.5%) and just 2-12 from three (16.7%). Ulster was led on offense by Chase Monroe, who posted 15 points while hitting all six of his attempts. ACPHS headed into to halftime down 39-28, despite some energetic minutes off the bench from senior center Nwakibe Kanu.

ACPHS came out firing in the 2^nd half, scoring seven unanswered points to cut the deficit to four and force a timeout from Ulster head coach Justin Maxwell. Simmons was able to put the Panthers within two at the 13:23 mark, but the Panthers never could push into the lead. With the score at 48-44 with nine minutes left, Ulster caught fire and went on a 14-3 run to seemingly put the game out of reach. Albany staged their second comeback shortly thereafter, going on a 10-2 run that was capped off by slick layup from senior center Nick McKeel. Down 64-59 with 3:46 left to go, Albany struggled to get stops down the stretch and couldn't claw back into the game. Overall, it was an off night from the floor for Albany, who did shoot better in the second half but still only hit 23 of their 69 attempts (33%).

SUNY Ulster had four players finish in double-figures, but Monroe led the way with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Sergiu Zimbatu and Rayquan Bryant finished tied for second on the team with 15 each. Bryant also chipped in eight rebounds and seven assists.

For the Panthers, senior guard Nathaniel Beltran accounted for 29 Albany's 63 points. Simmons crashed the glass to the tune of 12 rebounds and five points, while McKeel had eight points on 4-6 shooting. Head coach Brett Barnard will have the team shooting plenty of free-throws in practice, as Albany shot just 13-25 from the charity stripe.

Next up for ACPHS is a game at home against The King's College on Sunday, November 11^th at 3pm.