ROSEMONT, Pa. – Rosemont held off Centenary College to earn a 57-54 Colonial States Athletic Conference men's basketball triumph in a tightly-contested game on Wednesday night.
 
The Cyclones (2-6, 1-1 CSAC), who trailed by as many as nine points during the second half, battled back to take a one-point lead, but could not hang on, suffering their first league loss of the season. The Ravens upped their record to 3-5 overall and evened their conference mark at 1-1.
 
RC led for much of the opening half until back-to-back layups by senior forward Joshua Case (Catasauqua, Pa./Catasauqua) put Centenary in front by one. Rosemont knotted the score on two occasions before another Case bucket with 37 seconds left gave CC a three-point lead at intermission.
 
The Ravens stormed out of the gate, scoring the game's first 12 points of the second half to grab a nine-point advantage. However, Centenary responded immediately as Case started an 8-0 spurt with a layup. Sophomore point guard Clayton Roker (New City, N.Y./Clarkstown South) scored the next six points, cutting the deficit to one.
 
Roker's jumper at with 5:22 tied the game and the lead would exchange hands seven times over the next three minutes before Dom Scafidi's basket at the 2:15 mark handed Rosemont a lead that it would not relinquish.
 
The Ravens extended the edge to five points before senior forward Tim Brix (Monroe Township, N.J./Monroe) drained a three-pointer with 13 seconds to play. RC missed a pair of free throws, giving Centenary an opportunity to tie or go in front; however, Centenary was unable to connect on two shots from the charity stripe on its next possession and was forced to foul once again.
 
After Keith Fletcher made 1-of-2 free throws for Rosemont, Centenary's final heave went off the backboard as time expired.
 
Three players combined to score 46 points for Centenary, which made 39 percent of its attempts from the floor (21-53). Brix connected on 7-of-10 shots from the field, scoring a season-high 17 points, while Case collected 13 points (6-10 FG) and seven rebounds. Roker added 16 points and six boards.
 
Rosemont drained 40 percent (20-49) of its field goal tries and received 17 points and eight rebounds from Scafidi. Both teams grabbed 35 boards.
 
Centenary looks to bounce back on Saturday at Keystone. Tip-off is set for noon.