BLOOMFIELD DOWNS CALDWELL, 91-67 FOR CACC TOURNAMENT TITLE
BLOOMFIELD DOWNS CALDWELL, 91-67 FOR CACC TOURNAMENT TITLE
March 5, 2005
Courtesy of Matt McLagan Caldwell Sports Information
CALDWELL, N.J. - The Bloomfield College men's
basketball team defeated Caldwell College, 91-67 to repeat as
Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament champions on
Saturday at Caldwell College's Newman Center. The Deacons (23-7),
who were CACC co-champions during the regular season, earned an
automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament with the victory.
This is the first season that the CACC Tournament champion
automatically qualifies for the national tournament.
Bloomfield jumped out to an early 8-0 lead in the first half on
three-pointers by Daniel Terrell (Somerdale, NJ)
and CACC Player of the Year Andre Dabney (Plainfield,
NJ), and a lay-up from Javier Salson (Madrid,
Spain). The Cougars battled back, eventually tying the
game at 25-25 after a lay-up by freshman forward Manny
Perez (Egg Harbor, NJ/Egg Harbor) with 3:53 left in the
half. But Bloomfield finished the half with a 12-4 run, including
threes from Dabney and Terrell, to take a 37-29 lead into the
break.
After Terrell and senior guard Ron Harris (Trenton,
NJ/Trenton Central) traded three-pointers to start the
second half, the Deacons began to pull away. With the score 46-37
at the 15:29 mark, Bloomfield went on a 25-7 spree that saw seven
different Deacons score at least two points. The lead would balloon
to 78-48, as the Cougars would get no closer than 18 points the
rest of the way.
Bloomfield was hot from three-point range, hitting 15-of-27 (55.6
percent) from beyond the arc. The Cougars struggled to find an
offensive rhythm, shooting 35.9 percent from the floor for the
game.
Dabney, who scored 46 points in the semifinal round against
Felician, finished with 16 points and received the CACC
Tournament's Most Valuable Player award. Salson and forward
Rob Lawrence (Plainfield, NJ) had 14 and 12
points, respectively, and joined Dabney on the AdPro Team Sports
All-Tournament Team. Terrell led Bloomfield with 19 points. Harris
and Perez also made the All-Tournament squad, scoring 21 points
apiece. Perez grabbed 11 rebounds to record his fifth double-double
of the season.
The NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Tournament begins on
Saturday, Mar. 12.
2005 AdPro Team Sports CACC
All-Tournament Team
Andre Dabney, Bloomfield (MVP)
Rob Lawrence, Bloomfield
Javier Salson, Bloomfield
Ron Harris, Caldwell
Manny Perez, Caldwell
Eric Cangelosi, USP
Craig Banton, Felician
Lataiva Escho, Nyack