Cardinals Advance After 2nd Half Comeback

Box Score
MADISON, N.J. (February 23, 2011) - In front of a loud and boisterous crowd at Baldwin Gym, the Cardinals of Catholic University were able to advance to the Landmark Conference Championship Game after a 71-58 win over the Rangers this evening. The third-seeded Cardinals will move on to face the regular season champion, Scranton on Saturday.

Feeding off the home court advantage, Drew (14-12) was eventually able to control of the first half of play after an initial Catholic (19-7) surge. The Cardinals scored the first five points of the ball game and held a 7-2 advantage early in the early minutes. The Rangers would come storming back with a 7-2 run of their own and tied the game at nine with 12:13 to go. Junior Asmar Capers (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) gave the Rangers their first lead of the night off a long three, leading Drew on a 10-4 run over the next six minutes of play. Capers finished with a game-high 18 points including a 4-of-9 performance from downtown.

The Rangers would close out the half with all the momentum after freshman Bobby Falconiero (Moorestown, N.J./Bishop Eutace) drilled a three from the corner to give the blue and green a 30-23 advantage at the half. The seven point lead would quickly be erased as Catholic scored the first nine points of the second half including an alley-oop thrown down by Chris Kearney to tie the game at 30.

Drew was able to respond to the dunk with a tough layup in the lane by sophomore Terrell Brown (Camden, N.J./Woodrow Wilson) but would not be able to sustain a barrage of Catholic three pointers over the next three minutes of play. Beginning at the 15:37 mark the Cardinals would get baskets on next seven consecutive possessions, including four three-pointers. After going 0-for-6 from the floor in the first half, senior RJ Dixon scored all of his team-high seventeen points in the second half.

The Cardinals opened up an eight-point lead at the 10:00 minute mark and not look back. Catholic, the Landmark's top defense, held the Rangers to just 28 points in the final 20 minutes and went 14-of-17 from the free throw line down the stretch to help close the door.

Dylan Bulger (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Academy) recorded his fifth double-double of the year coming off the bench, tallying 13 points and grabbing a team- high 10 rebounds . Four of the five Catholic starters were in double figures and led by Dixon and Shawn Holmes who each had 17.

The Rangers will await a possible bid to the ECAC Metro Tournament which would take place next week.Details will be available on drewrangers.com .