BLOOMFIELD, NJ (February 23, 2011) – The men's basketball team improved to 18-8 overall and 15-3 in CACC play Wednesday evening, as they held off a late charge from the Wilmington University Wildcats to take a 90-74 home victory. 

The Deacons' pair of seniors, Gage Daye and Ryan Rodrigues, was honored prior to tip-off, the duo playing in their final regular season home game. The backdrop was set for a memorable evening for each of the graduating perimeter stars: Daye needed 30 points to tie former Deacon Andre Dabney's record of 2,350 for his career, and Rodrigues needed 23 points to eclipse the 1,000 career point plateau.  

From the opening tip, it was clear Rodrigues was intent on capturing the milestone in front of a capacity home crowd. The New Bedford, MA native tallied 13 points in the first half, connecting on four of his six three-point tries and leading the Deacons to a 43-29 advantage with two minutes remaining in the half. 

Bloomfield was able to force the Wildcats into 11 first-half turnovers, notching 17 points off the Wilmington miscues to open up the double-digit advantage. The home team took a 47-36 advantage into the break, seemingly on their way to another lopsided homecourt victory.

The Wildcats would not go quietly, though, orchestrating a 19-4 run to cut the Bloomfield lead to 67-61 with seven minutes to play. With Wilmington charging hard, the duo of Rodrigues and Matt Wafula provided the late-game heroics, helping Bloomfield engineer a surge to put the lead back to double digits and the contest out of reach. 

As Rodrigues notched each of his ten second-half points, the packed house erupted with each passing bucket, hoping the sharpshooter could cap off his outstanding two-year career as a Deacon with a memorable moment in front of his home crowd.  With his family looking on, Rodrigues got his milestone basket with 2:20 to play, knifing through the paint and laying the ball in to reach exactly 1,000 career points. The crowd erupted with an ovation normally reserved for a last-second buzzer-beater, Rodrigues then mobbed by his teammates as the lead stretched to a comfortable 18 points.

“There's no better scenario to get to 1,000 career points then to do it at home, on Senior Night, with my family and friends here to watch,” Rodrigues said. “It's a great accomplishment and I'm happy I got it, but I'm also happy I did it tonight and got it out of the way. We've got the conference tournament coming up next week, so it's great it's out of the way and I can focus on helping us win a championship.”

“We're all thrilled for Ryan that he's eclipsed this milestone,” Bloomfield head coach Gerald Holmes said. “He's been a very productive player for us since he's been here, and he's become one of the best guards in our league. I'm extremely proud of him.”

Wafula posted one of his best performances of the season in the victory, netting 22 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocks to help lead the Deacons to the victory.  Daye notched 12 points, three assists and four steals, while Kevin Udo was a force off the bench with 10 points, nine rebounds and five blocks in the paint.