Dominican Road Upset & Last-Second Post Win Highlights CACC MBB Qtrs
2023-24 CACC MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (March 5, 2024) -- Post University's last-second layup to knock off Wilmington University and Dominican University's road upset win at Goldey-Beacom College were the highlights of a good quarterfinal round on Tuesday night in the 2023-24 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Men's Basketball Championship Tournament.
Post and WilmU exchanged basket for basket throughout the entire 40 minutes, and the Wildcats held a 77-74 lead with under :30 remaining, but Post rallied with a layup with :01 left to clinch its ticket to Saturday's semifinals with a 79-77 triumph. The Eagles will face South #1 Thomas Jefferson University in the semifinals at noon on Saturday in the Newman Center on the Caldwell University campus in New Jersey. Jefferson knocked off North #4 Felician University, 76-66, to reach the semis.
Dominican entered Tuesday's quarterfinal matchup with GBC as the North #3 seed, but pulled off a 93-77 win over South #2 Goldey-Beacom on the road. The Chargers, who are seeking their sixth-straight trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament, will face North #1 Bloomfield College in Saturday's semifinals at 2 p.m. The Bears trailed South #4 Chestnut Hill College by double-figures in the first half and by a count of 40-35 at halftime, but roared back with a fantastic shooting performance in the second half to head in for a 78-61 win over the Griffins.
Saturday's two semifinal winners will advance to the CACC Men's Basketball Championship Final on Sunday at 12 p.m., on the Caldwell campus.
S#1 JEFFERSON 76, N#4 FELICIAN 66 | Boxscore
Hakim Byrd led four Rams who scored in double-figures as he netted 19 points to lead Jefferson to the double-digit victory. Antonin Kemkeng and Bismark Nsiah each recorded double-doubles for Jefferson, as the former posted 14 points and 13 rebounds, while the latter went for 10 points and 12 boards. Jefferson shot close to 50 percent from beyond the arc (15-of-31), while Felician struggled from long range making just 4 of 16 triples. Erik Timko chipped in 11 points and six assists for the Rams. Jabri Fitzpatrick went for a game-high 25 points for the Golden Falcons in the setback.
N#2 POST 79, S#3 WILMINGTON 77 | Boxscore
Bol Akot hit a driving layup and converted a three-point play with a free throw with just :01 remaining to lift the Eagles to a thrilling come-from-behind win. Wilmington held a 77-76 lead, but turned the ball over on an offensive foul with :05 left to give Post extra life to pull of the win. Skip Burton threw up a half-court shot at the buzzer, but his attempt narrowly clanged off the back of the iron that would have proved the winning basket for the Wildcats. Akot had a team-high 17 points for Post, while Harrison Warnock and Deng Deang followed with 14 and 10 points, apiece. Caleb Matthews was one of two Wildcats to top 20 points scored in the game as he had 23 and Taalib Holloman chipped in with 21.
N#1 BLOOMFIELD 78, S#4 CHESTNUT HILL 61 | Boxscore
For the second-straight game, Bloomfield shook off a slow start and then shot the ball extremely well in the second half to pull off another come-from-behind win. This time the Bears shot 58 percent from the field in the second 20 minutes on Tuesday night to come back from double-digits to knock off the Griffins. Starrell Hearns came off the bench to pump in 17 points for Bloomfield, while Abdallah Elsaleh followed with 13 and both Al Fatir Connor and Deavion Ellis added 10 apiece. Argel Pettit led all scorers with 18 points in the setback for CHC.
N#3 DOMINICAN 93, S#2 GOLDEY-BEACOM 77 | Boxscore
Jaden Honis poured in 22 points coming off the pine for the Chargers as they held a 45-31 lead at the break and cruised in for a 16-point victory over the Lightning. Dominican shot 56 percent from the field and converted 9-of-15 three-point attempts for a 60-percent clip. Seth Sharif-Brown chipped in 16 points in a reserve role. Isaiah Honis had 19 points for the Chargers and Joshuel White was Dominican's other double-digit scorer with 13. GBC got 22 points from Zayon Marsh and 20 points off the bench from Omari Banks.
ABOUT THE CACC
The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference composed of 12 institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The member institutions are Bloomfield College, University of Bridgeport, Caldwell University, Chestnut Hill College, Dominican (N.Y.) University, Felician University, Georgian Court University, Goldey-Beacom College, Holy Family University, Post University, Thomas Jefferson University, and Wilmington University.