Friday, March 4, 2011 (Men's Basketball)

CABRINI RALLIES WITH 19-3 RUN TO OUTLAST NJCU, 85-76, IN NCAA TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND

RADNOR, PA (NJCUGothicKnights.com) | New Jersey City University led for the first 35 minutes of its NCAA Division III Tournament First Round game at Cabrini College before the Cavaliers used a late 19-3 run while shooting 24-of-27 from the foul line in the second half to rally for a 85-76 victory over the Gothic Knights on March 4 at Cabrini's Nerney Field House.

NJCU, the champions of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, have their 2011 season end with a mark of 19-10. The Knights won 12 of their final 14 games to earn their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2005. Cabrini improves to 23-5 and advances to the NCAA Second Round for the first time since the 2002 season where it will meet SUNY-Purchase (23-4), 79-69 winners over Hartwick College in the other regional game.

It was the first-ever meeting between NJCU and Cabrini, the two-time champions of the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC), and the Knights suffered their first loss to a member of the CSAC in five contests (4-1). NJCU falls to 17-21 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 7-10 in NCAA road games.

Cabrini, which extended its home court winning streak to 27 games since the start of the 2009-10 season, shot 32-of-41 from the line (.780) and 88.9 percent in the second half. NJCU was only awarded 19 free throws the entire contest and the NJAC's top free throw team struggled from the stripe when it was granted a chance (10-19, .526); it was NJCU's second lowest free throw percentage of the season.

Fourth-year head coach MARC BROWN discussed the loss in his program's first NCAA appearance under his leadership: "It was a hard-fought game, but it's tough to win when one team shoots 41 free throws and another shoots 19. That's a big difference. We just didn't make enough plays, both offensively and defensively, especially in the second half. I thought we controlled the first half. They shot 27 free throws in the second half, we shot 12. That's a big difference.  They're a good team with some good players and good shooters but we didn't execute well enough. Hats off to them. They're moving on, we're going home. Our goal is to get back here next year."

Senior point guard DA'SHON BARRINO (East Orange, NJ/Malcolm X. Shabazz) did not practice all week after suffering a knee injury in the NJAC Tournament. He willed himself to play 15 minutes, scoring 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting and 3-of-4 from three-point range, before pulling himself from the action just 1:26 into the second half after re-aggravating the injury.

"Prior to the game I told my teammates I was going to give them everything I had," an emotional Barrino said afterwards. "I played as hard as I can, as long as I could. At halftime it [the knee] stiffened up on me. In the second half when I went for a layup, I tweaked it. It was in extreme pain at that time and I had to pull myself out."

Junior center JOSH HOSANG (Hackensack, NJ/Palm Beach Central (Fla.)) scored 14 points (5-8 FG, 4-6 FT) as NJCU's top scorer. Junior point guard KEITH WILLIAMS (Jersey City, NJ/Create Charter) notched 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting (2-4 3FG) with six rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Senior guard JAMES LIVINGSTON (Trenton, NJ/Trenton Central) had seven assists and four points.

Also for NJCU sophomore shooting guard ASHMERE WILSON (Newark, NJ/Weequahic) provided eight points (3-8 FG, 2-4 3FG) and junior forward TAQUAN ABDULLAH (Kenilworth, NJ/David Brearley) also collected eight points (3-8 FG). Sophomore small forward WALIK ALBRIGHT (Jersey City, NJ/Create Charter) tallied six points, four rebounds and four assists. Senior power forward TOM McDERMOTT (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) had six rebounds and five points.

Cabrini, which won for the 17^th time in 18 outings, was led by senior forward Dom Farrello (Warminster, Pa.) with a game-best 28 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three-point range and 7-of-8 from the line. He added eight rebounds and three steals in 37 minutes and scored 15 in the second half alone and now has 1,224 career points for the Cavaliers.

Junior point guard Cory Lemons (Wilmington, Del.) added 19 points, five assists and two steals in 39 minutes. He shot 6-of-16 but was a perfect 7-of-7 from the line. Freshman forward Fran Rafferty (King of Prussia, Pa.) chipped in 10 rebounds and eight points (3-4 FG, 2-2 FT) while sophomore center Goran Dulac (Levittown, Pa.) added 12 points, making 7-of-8 from the line.

Freshman guard John Boyd (Trappe, Pa.) finished with eight points, shooting 1-of-7 overall but 6-of-8 from the stripe. Cabrini got 75 of its 85 points from its starters, as NJCU's reserves outscored the Cavalier backups, 29-10.

NJCU led by nine with 13:37 left in the second half after Hosang powered his way to the basket for a layup and converted a foul shot for a 56-47 margin and continued to lead by six, 68-62, with 6:54 remaining as Livingston drew defenders to him in the lane and kicked a pass to Wilson who drained a three from the left corner.

But over the next five minutes, NJCU missed all four shots it attempts and committed five turnovers and the Cavaliers used a 12-1 to claim a 74-69 lead when Dulac made the backend of two foul shots after an NJCU giveaway with 2:10 left.

After NJCU missed a three, Hosang grabbed an offensive rebound and putback the miss with a layup to cut the deficit to three, 74-71 with 1:57 remaining. But with 1:26 left, Lemons hit a layup in the lane and was fouled, converting the three-point play for a 77-71 cushion. NJCU missed an interior shot and a later three, and Dulac sank six foul shots with 54.1, 40.8 and 33 seconds left to ice it. The Cavaliers made their final 10 foul shots consecutively.

In the first half, NJCU shot 51.7 percent (15-29) and sank 7-of-15 (.467) from three-point range—never trailing in the period. Barrino, who scored nine in the first half, knocked down a pair of threes to open the game with a 6-2 lead and Williams sank a triple. After Cabrini tied it at 9-9 with a three by Farrello, NJCU scored the next seven points for a 16-9 advantage after baskets by Hosang and McDermott and a 23-foot straight-on three by Albright at 14:12.

There were five ties in the first 20 minutes and Cabrini pushed back to knot it at 16-16 at the 11:32 mark after a three by Dulac, and layups by Rafferty and Farrello.  A trey by Wilson gave NJCU back a 21-18 edge and a strong offensive rebound and putback at the 8:42 mark by senior swingman ROB ROBINSON (East Orange, NJ/Malcolm X. Shabazz), who also battled through a knee injury this week and did not practice leading up to the NCAA game, made it 24-20. Another three by Farrello tied it at 26-26 at 6:58.

With 6:48 left in the half, Robinson missed a three. But Hosang grabbed the rebound and Robinson drained a second chance triple from the left wing for a 29-26 edge. NJCU's ball movement around the perimeter led to Barrino draining his third three of the half from the corner for a 32-27 lead with 5:41 left. With 3:13 to go, a block and defensive rebound by Williams led to a full court fast break layup and a 36-33 lead and a McDermott bounce pass to Livingston in the lane for a layup made it 38-34. With 44.2 seconds left in the half, Williams grabbed an offensive rebound and his putback attempt rolled in for a 41-35 advantage before a Rafferty basket made it a four-point, 41-37 game at the break. NJCU only committed four turnovers in the period.

Cabrini, which improved to 6-0 on the season when trailing at halftime, fell behind 43-37 when Barrino made an off-balance jumper off the window 42 seconds into the half. But less than a minute later, Barrino was forced out of the game with the injury. Cabrini cut it to two before a McDermott screen set up Williams for an open straight-away three-pointer. Livingston escaped a double team in the corner and found McDermott open on the right post for a layup and a 48-41 advantage before Hosang kept the lead at seven with a layup. With 14:14 left Livingston grabbed a defensive rebound and drove coast-to-coast, before dishing to Hosang for a layup, which resulted in a three-point play and a 53-45 margin. The three-point play by Hosang at 13:37 gave NJCU its largest lead of the night—a 56-47, nine-point cushion.

Cabrini would battle back. Farrello made two field goals, including a fast break layup off a Lemons steal to cut it to 56-51. A jumper by Lemons trimmed it to 56-53 before a three-pointer by senior guard Lamar Fisher (Sayreville, NJ) made it a one-point game, 57-56 with 11:45 remaining. Two baskets by Abdullah, including a fast break layup off a Livingston defensive rebound and feed, put NJCU back on top, 61-56, at the 11:01 mark and the Knights continued to lead by five, 65-60 with 8:11 to play after Albright spun around a defender on the right baseline for a layup that resulted in a foul and defensive goaltending, before finishing off a foul shot. With 6:54 left Wilson hit the three that made it 68-62, before Cabrini's rally began.

A steal and fast break bucket by Farrello made it a two-point, 68-66 game at 6:07. Trailing by one, Farrello took a long three from the left wing at the 4:52 mark that bounced up and fell through, giving Cabrini its first lead of the night, 70-68 and Lemons hit two foul shots at 4:30.

"Even when they took the lead in the second half I thought we had a shot especially with the way we run the press," Brown noted. "But the shots didn't fall. I tip my hat to Cabrini. They have a great winning streak going here. They finished strong and did what they had to do to win the game."

The win is Cabrini's first in the NCAA Tournament, and fifth overall, since a 47-43 win against William Paterson, also an NJAC opponent, on March 2, 2002.

While NJCU loses Barrino, Hosang, McDermott and Robinson, NJCU will return seven players from this year's final roster in 2011-12, including Williams.

"This is something I'll go back home and think about and work on so I can come back here next year," said the junior point guard. "With the people coming back next year, we have to prepare. We already know what we have to do to be ready for next season."

While Barrino's career with NJCU ends, he reflected on the positive season the Knights experienced. "It's extra tough. You never want to go out with a loss and that alone makes it extra tough. Even though we lost, we have to look at the positives. We won the NJAC championship. We started the second semester 3-6 and finished 19-10. This loss hurts but it was a positive season."

"I believe in these guys," Brown summarized. "I have a group that down the stretch won a lot of big games for us. These guys fight to the end, they really have. There was a time [of the year] when I was the most frustrated I probably have ever been as a coach or a player when we were 3-6. I knew we had the talent but I had no idea what this team was going to become. They showed me a lot of character."

—www.njcugothicknights.com—