CALDWELL MEN’S BASKETBALL DEFEATS DOMINICAN TO CLINCH PLAYOFF SPOT
Caldwell, NJ (2/24/09) The Caldwell College men's basketball team earned a hard-fought victory over Dominican College, 84-79 in an important Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference contest Tuesday evening in the George R. Newman Center. The win gives the Cougars (12-14 overall) an 8-7 record in the conference and wraps up a spot in the CACC Tournament, which begins next week. The Chargers complete their season with an overall record of 10-17, including a 5-11 mark in the CACC.
Courtesy of Matt McLagan, Caldwell College SID
Caldwell, NJ (2/24/09) The Caldwell College men's basketball team earned a hard-fought victory over Dominican College, 84-79 in an important Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference contest Tuesday evening in the George R. Newman Center. The win gives the Cougars (12-14 overall) an 8-7 record in the conference and wraps up a spot in the CACC Tournament, which begins next week. The Chargers complete their season with an overall record of 10-17, including a 5-11 mark in the CACC.
Caldwell can take third place in the CACC North Division with a
win over Philadelphia University in the final regular-season game
on Friday, Feb. 27. A loss puts the Cougars in fourth place. The
third-place team visits Post University on Tuesday, Mar. 3 in the
first round of the CACC Tournament, while the fourth-place team
plays at Bloomfield.
A pair of three-pointers by senior guard Carl
Augustin (Stony Point, NY) lifted
Caldwell to an early 12-3 lead. The advantage grew to 12 points
after a dunk by senior forward Manny Perez (Egg Harbor
Twp., NJ) made the score 21-9 with 13 minutes left in the
first half. But the Chargers flipped momentum to their side with a
22-2 spree to take a 31-23 lead with just under five minutes on the
clock. Wayne Cottle (Montclair, NJ) hit two threes
in the run, which saw the Cougars go 1-of-11 from the field. But
the Cougars regained control of the game by scoring the final 16
points of the first half for a 39-31 halftime lead. Freshman guard
Malcolm Austin (Albany, NY) had seven points,
while Perez converted an acrobatic reverse dunk off a pass from
freshman guard Nik Otovic (Kraljevo,
Serbia) that ignited the run.
Caldwell maintained the lead for most of the second half until
Dominican reeled off a 14-5 run capped by a three-pointer from
Brendan McManus (Pearl River, NY) that put the
Chargers ahead, 70-67 with 5:24 remaining. Austin answered for the
Cougars with a three-pointer to tie the game, then a conventional
three-point play by Perez sparked a 14-2 run for
an 81-72 lead with 1:53 to play. Dominican never got closer than
five points the rest of the way, as Caldwell clinched its fifth
straight berth in the CACC Tournament.
Perez led Caldwell with 21 points and 11 rebounds
for his fifth double-double of the season, while his classmate
Augustin scored 16 of his 20 points in the first
half. Three freshmen also scored in double figures, as
Otovic had 11, Austin had 10 and
center Peter Diffley (Bellerose,
NY) tallied 12.
Will Carty (Bronx, NY) notched a game-high 23 points for Dominican in his final collegiate game. Cottle and McManus each had nine points in the loss.