CALDWELL, N.J. – For the seventh time in Gerald Holmes' fifteen-year tenure, the Bloomfield College men's basketball team are the champions of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC).
 
Bloomfield put on a solid performance against the Chargers of Dominican College and came away with a, 69-56 tournament final victory. Marcus Fleming (Linden, N.J.) was named Most Valuable Player of the CACC Tournament after a 25-point performance in the final. Fleming hit just five shots from the floor but controlled the tempo of the game by driving the ball to the rim and converted 10-of-14 from the line.
 
Rakwan Kelly (Newark, N.J.) notched a double-double (13 points – 12 rebounds) during the game at the Newman Center on the campus of Caldwell University. Nick Davidson (Lumberton, N.J.) also finished in double digits with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field. The win punched the ticket for Bloomfield to the NCAA Regional Tournament for the seventh time under Coach Holmes.

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The Bear Necessities
Score: #1N Bloomfield 69, #2N Dominican 56 
Records: #1N Bloomfield (22-9) | #2N Dominican (19-12)
Location: Newman Center / Caldwell, N.J.
 
How It Happened

• The Chargers scored the first bucket of the contest but Bloomfield answered with a Davidson basket in the lane. Dominican flexed to a four-point advantage (8-4) but the Bears countered with two jumpers that evened the game at 8-8 with under fifteen minutes to play in the 1^st half.
• The North Division's top team reeled off a 7-0 spurt to go up 16-9 on the Chargers. Fleming buried a shot from beyond the arc and the Bears advantage grew to ten (23-13) with 4:51 to go before intermission. Dominican made a 5-0 charge but Bloomfield responded in like kind that prompted a time out from the #2 seed.
• Bloomfield settled for a 31-23 lead at the break as Fleming led all scorers with 12 points in the opening period. Kelly was a steady force on the glass with 7 boards at the half to go along with 5 points. The Bears forced 9 Dominican turnovers and held them to 28.6 percent shooting from the floor
• The Chargers came out fired up for the 2^nd half but Bloomfield matched their intensity basket for basket and extended to a 37-26 lead two minutes into the quarter. Bloomfield continued to answer Dominican at every turn and boasted the same eleven-point advantage (49-38) after an Ahmid Williams (Monroe, N.J.) three-pointer with 11:42 on the clock.
•  The Chargers chipped away and climbed to within 54-48 as 8:27 showed on the clock. The Bears were clicking on all cylinders though and built a stronger lead at 65-51 with three minutes left to play.  Bloomfield finished off Dominican down the stretch and secured the CACC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament

 
Up Next: The Bears now await 'The Selection Sunday Show' to find out where they fall in the seedings of the NCAA Tournament. The selection show will take place tonight at 11:00 pm and can be viewed online at: http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule Bloomfield was ranked 6^th in the most recent NCAA Regional Poll.
 
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