SYRACUSE, NY – The Bloomfield College Bears battled the Le Moyne Dolphins for the NCAA Division II East Region Championship Tuesday evening but fell 75-59 to finish 24-8 on the year. Bloomfield couldn't quite get over the hump after the Dolphins (27-6) led for the majority of the game and advanced to the Div. II Elite 8 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
 
Safee Abdus-Sabur (West Orange, NJ) got the scoring underway with a baseline jumper and the Bears were underway on Ted Grant Court.  Le Moyne responded with the next eight points but a Keith Washington (Philadelphia, PA) deep ball stopped the top seed's surge as the teams felt each other out in the early going. The Dolphins flipped out a 28-18 advantage with under eight to play in the half however the 7^th seed was up to the task, answering with 7 straight to close to within (3) 28-25.
 
Le Moyne was determined and pushed back up ten (35-25) with Bloomfield struggling on the offensive side of the ball for the first time in the tournament. The hosts settled for a 40-31 lead at the halftime break as the Bears shot just 12-of-35 (34.3 percent) from the field. Ignacio Diez (Madrid, Spain) provided a spark off the bench, going 4-out of-6 from the floor for 8 points to go along with 8 boards while Abdus-Sabur paced the offense with 10 points. On Le Moyne's side of the ball Robert Jones III and Tanner Hyland each poured in 11 points.
 
Three consecutive buckets in the paint from Washington spark a Bloomfield comeback and a bucket down low from Davidson drew the visitors to within 47-45 prompting a Dolphin timeout. The fans were on the edge of their seats as the teams went bucket for bucket to a 54-53 lead for the Ted Grant Court residents with a little over five minutes to play.
 
A three-pointer from Hyland capped a 10-0 outburst from Le Moyne and placed the Bears on their heels with time ticking off the clock. Bloomfield would never recover and the Dolphins claimed the 2018 NCAA Division II East Region Championship. Davidson finished the night with 15 points and was named to the All-East Region Tournament Team along with Washington who netted 16 points in the setback.  Davidson finished his storied career at Bloomfield with 1,924 points, 3^rd all-time in the Division II era.
 
The Bears co-captain also grabbed 660 rebounds in his career and ranked in the top 100 players in the nation in points per game, total points, total field goals made, free throws made and free throw attempts. Rakwan Kelly (Newark, NJ) wrapped up his solid college career with 1,174 points (1040 at Bloomfield) and 717 rebounds (616 as a Bear) while Diez's four-year career in a Bears uniform concluded with 694 points and 469 boards under Coach Holmes. The Bloomfield Head Coach crossed the 300 career-win plateau after the opening round victory in the East Regional and led his squad to their 8^th NCAA Tournament appearance of his coaching tenure and 9th 20-plus win season.
 
Order your commemorative 'Home with Holmes – 300 Career Wins' T-Shirt now. 
 
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