Bloomfield, NJ... Bloomfield College Men's Basketball scored a win against conference rival, Chestnut Hill College, 92-71 today at the Bloomfield College Gym. The home crowd was treated to a dandy of a game as the Deacons move to 5-3 on the the season, 2-1 in the CACC. The loss dropped the Griffins to 0-5 overall, and 0-1 in conference play.
Bloomfield started off strong with a 10-2 run highlighted by a Charles Smith (Newark, NJ) dunk that brought the fans to their feet. Smith punctuated the run with a 3-pointer and the Deacons were on their way to taking a firm hold of the game. Chestnut Hill would get to within 4 (13-9) but that would be as close as they would come with Bloomfield guard, Jeff Randall (Trenton, NJ) taking center stage in the half. Randall came off the bench to drill two 3-pointers in the half, shotting 5-9 from the field, leading the Deacons to a 45-23 advantage at the break. Smith lead Bloomfield in rebounds, snatching down 6 and Gage Daye (Newark, NJ) went a perfect 3-3 from behind the arc to net 9 points in the first stanza. The Griffins scoring leader at the half was Brandon Williams with 6 points. Bloomfield shot 51.5% from the field in the first half and held a 28-16 rebounding edge.
Chestnut Hill could only hope for Bloomfield to cool off in the second half for them to have a shot at coming back. The Deacons however had another plan entirely as junior, forward Omari Knox (Brooklyn, NY) caught fire and torched the Griffins for 11 in the second period, going 4-5 from the field with 5 rebounds. Smith continued his dominance on the boards pulling down 5 in the period along with a blocked shot. The fire was contagious as Bloomfield shot 53.3% from the field including 26 points in the paint. Chestnut Hill watched the lead ballon to as much as 2 points in the second period before resting at the final score of 92-71.
Smith and Knox both finished the game with double-doubles. Smith ended with 12 points on 4-8 shooting with 11 boards and Knox grabbed 10 rebounds to go with 17 points on the day. The Griffins scoring load was carried by Williams and Julien McFadden who had 23 and 20 points respectively. Kevin Whaley pitched in a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Deacons out-shot Chestnut Hill 52.4% to 28.9% for the game including 11-20 from beyond the arc. Daye finished up with 11 points for Bloomfield and Randall rested with 16, both helped the Deacons to a 43-17 advantage in bench scoring.
Next the Deacons fly to Puerto Rico to participate in a University of Puerto Rico Tournament. The first game will be on Thursday. Check back to bcdeacons.com for more information on game times, scores and highlights.
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