#7 Dominican College Chargers Upset #2 Caldwell College Cougars in CACC Quarter-Finals, 76-73

Courtesy of Matt McLagan, SID at Caldwell College and Kelly-Ann DiGiulio

Caldwell, N.J. (2/28/06)     Back-to-back three-point plays by Prince Jackson (Schenectady, NY) in the game's final minute allowed Dominican College to earn a comeback victory over Caldwell College, 76-73 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference men's basketball tournament quarterfinal Tuesday night at the George R. Newman Center. The victory advances the seventh-seeded Chargers (12-16) to Friday's semifinals against third-seeded Holy Family. The Cougars, who were seeded second in the tournament, end their season at 18-13.
 
A pair of free throws by sophomore forward Manny Perez(Egg Harbor, NJ/Egg Harbor) put the Cougars ahead, 72-68 with 49 seconds remaining. Jackson answered with a spinning lay-up in the paint. He was fouled on the play and hit the ensuing free throw to pull the Chargers to within one, 72-71 with 35 seconds left. Perez was fouled on the inbounds play and made 1-of-2 from the line.  Again Jackson made a lay-up and was fouled with 21 seconds on the clock. He drained the free throw to give Dominican their first lead since the first 15 seconds of the game.
 
Senior guardKelvin Reese(Teaneck, NJ/Teaneck) put up a jumper from 10 feet that was off the mark with five seconds to play, resulting in a foul and two more free throws for Jackson. With the Cougars trailing by three with 2.1 seconds left, Perez received a long inbounds pass from senior guardMark Kelly(Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Twp.) at the top of the key, but his three-pointer bounced off the rim as time expired.
 
The loss overshadowed a career milestone for Perez, left, who scored his 1,000th point at the 10:59 mark of the first half. He becomes the 12th men's basketball player at Caldwell College to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
 
The Cougars led for the majority of the game and used a 10-0 run to jump out to a 23-11 lead with 8:48 to go in the first half. The lead grew to as many as 15 after a three-pointer by Kelly capped seven straight points to make the score 32-17 with 5:44 on the clock. Caldwell eventually took a 38-26 lead into the break.
 
After trailing by as many as 14 in the second half, Dominican whittled away at the Cougars' lead, eventually pulling to within 57-52 with just under eight minutes to play. Caldwell answered with a 7-2 run that gave the Cougars a 64-54 advantage with 4:22 remaining in the game. That's when guard Bryan Browne (Mt. Vernon, NY) found his shooting range, nailing three consecutive three-pointers off the bench in a 9-1 Dominican run that brought the Chargers to within two points, 65-63 at the 2:31 mark. The Cougars were able to work the lead back up to four twice before Jackson carried his team to victory in the final minute of play.
 
Junior guardJean Georges(Vauxhal, NJ/Spotswood), right, led the Cougars with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field. Perez finished with 20 points to give him 1,015 for his career in just two seasons at Caldwell. Kelly notched a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Reese dished out a team-best six assists as the two, along with senior forwardTeren Scudder(Paterson, NJ/Paterson Catholic), played in their final game wearing the Scarlet, White and Gold.
 
Jackson tallied a game-high 28 points and three assists to pace Dominican, with Tahiem Stewart  (Harlem, NY) adding 11 points and a team leading six rebounds in support.  Browne finished the game with nine points, shooting 3-4 from three point range, while freshmen Will Carty (Bronx, NY) and Damien Davis (Windsor, CT) also chipped in nine points each in the win.

The Chargers will play #3 Holy Family University on Friday, March 3rd at the Bobby Morgan Arena on the campus of the University of Sciences in Philadelphia at 5:30 pm.  Holy Family defeated #6 Post University, 73-72 this evening in Philadelphia.

AGATE

Dominican College (12-16)      26          50        --     76

Caldwell College (18-13)         38          35        --     73