WASHINGTON, DC – The Drew University men's basketball team rode a tremendous shooting performance to a huge 96-81 victory at Landmark Conference front-runner and No. 15-ranked Catholic University on Saturday.
The Rangers (18-5, 11-5 LC) shot a blazing 60.7% from the field and 57.6% (19-33) from beyond the arc while nailing the fourth-most (tied) 3-pointers in program history. They posted their highest field-goal percentage since Feb. 16, 2022 (61.8% versus Moravian) and their top 3-point shooting percentage since Dec. 28, 2018 (63.6% versus Stockton).
The victory was Drew's first over a nationally-ranked opponent under second-year Head Coach
Michael McSloy and the program's first since a 71-54 win over No. 24 DeSales on Dec. 30, 2021. The last time the Rangers defeated an opponent ranked as high as 15th was on Jan. 16, 2016, when they topped No. 11 Susquehanna 76-74.
Drew, which snapped Catholic's 14-game winning streak, jumped to a 36-19 lead midway through the opening half and led by at least nine the rest of the way.
The Rangers are now alone in third place in the Landmark Conference standings with two games left in the season.
Junior guard
Papie Roberts erupted for a career-high 24 points and dished out five assists while shooting a red-hot 6-for-7 from 3-point territory for Drew. Junior guard
Pat Higgins added 23 points and six rebounds, and sophomore forward
David Musial contributed 16 points while knocking down 5-of-6 shots from downtown. Senior guard
Andrew Turco chipped in with 10 points.
Jesse Hafemeister paced the Cardinals (20-3, 14-2 LC), who lost their first Landmark Conference game since Dec. 6, with 24 points.
The Rangers trailed just once on the evening – when it was 2-0 – and used an early 11-0 run to jump to a 24-10 lead with 12:10 left in the opening half. Musial and Higgins kick-started the run with back-to-back 3-pointers before freshman guard
Eli Yusavage capped it with a triple of his own.
The Cardinals trimmed the deficit to 10 less than a minute later, but that's when Drew stepped on the gas again, this time with a 9-2 run that gave the squad its aforementioned 36-19 advantage with 8:04 showing. The spurt was fueled entirely by 3-pointers, as senior guard
James Anderson, Turco, and Roberts all connected from deep.
Catholic rallied, but could not get within single digits over the rest of the half and the Rangers led 53-41 at the break.
The Cardinals nudged to within twice in the second half, the last time coming with at 57-48 with 15:35 to go. But a pair of big plays swung the momentum back in the Rangers favored. First, Turco drove the lane for an old-fashioned 3-point play, then junior forward
Peso Crump threw down an impressive alley-oop dunk off a perfect feed from Roberts, making it 62-48 with 15:12 showing.
A 7-0 Drew run, sparked by a 3-ball from Yusavage, made it 69-51 with 11:14 on the clock, and Catholic was unable to draw closer than 10 the rest of the way. The Rangers clinched it with more torrid shooting, draining their last five 3-pointers over a 5:30 span. Musial accounted for three triples over the stretch, with his last one making it 90-74 with 3:18 showing.
The Rangers iced the win at the foul line, where they shot 6-for-8 over the final 2:25.
Drew closes out its regular-season schedule this week, when it visits Elizabethtown on Wednesday at 7 p.m. before hosting Susquehanna next Saturday at 2 p.m.
