ORANGEBURG, N.Y. – Senior Marvin Williams (Jersey City, N.J.) poured in a team-high 20 points to lead four scorers in double figures as the Bloomfield College men's basketball team shook off an eleven point first half deficit to pull out a 77-76 triumph against Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) North Division rival, Dominican College on the road at the Hennessy Center Tuesday evening.
The Bears get back to their winning ways after dropping their last conference battle and improve to 6-8 on the season, including 5-3 in CACC play. The Chargers lose their sixth straight to sink to 5-10 overall and 5-3 in conference contests.
Bloomfield shot just 37.8 percent from the field in the opening half to the stark contrast of 55.1 percent from the Chargers and trailed by as many as seventeen (35-18) in the opening frame. Williams helped guide his CACC pre-season number one ranked Bears back into the game in the second stanza with the assistance of freshmen standouts, Nick Davidson (Lumberton, N.J.) and Ignacio Diez (Madrid, Spain) who netted 18 and 14 points respectively.
Nick Smith (Middletown, N.Y.) came off the benched and paced Dominican with 20 points, followed by Robert Hueston (Middletown, N.Y.) and his 19 points on 8-for-16 shooting from the field.
The North Division foes battled back-and-forth in the early going to a 7-7 tie until Dominican ripped off eleven straight points to charge ahead. Davidson converted a conventional three point play to stop the run but the Bears were by no means out of the woods as a barrage of long range shots from beyond the arc ballooned the Charger lead to 35-18 before settling to an eleven point (46-35) advantage at the break.
In the second half, Bloomfield used an 18-6 spurt over a six-and-a-half minute span to serve notice to the Chargers that the game was far from over as it sat tied at 58-58. Dominican rebuilt a seven-point lead (71-64) after Hueston drilled another three-pointer with over five minutes left on the clock. Davison answered again, this time with a jumper in the paint to stem the Chargers gallop. Senior, Matt Hall (Brooklyn, N.Y.) came in off the bench and nailed a three-ball down the stretch on a dish from Williams to pull Bloomfield to within two, 74-76 with 1:47 remaining. Hall followed that possession with a key offensive rebound and was fouled on his put back attempt. The senior guard calmly sank two buckets from the charity stripe and the Bears were tied with the Chargers yet again at 76-76. Dominican attempted to ice the game with a three-pointer that missed its' mark and Williams gathered the rebound giving the visitors an opportunity to walk off with the win. After Williams missed his own three-point attempt with six seconds on the clock, Davidson snagged the offensive rebound and was fouled, sending him to the line with the game hanging in the balance. The freshman converted one-out of-two free throws to seal the Bears come from behind victory.
Davidson netted 5-for-7 from the line on the evening and finished with 6 rebounds to accompany his 18 points. Diez contributed a 5-for-8 shooting from the field performance to tie his career-high performance and Hall's 12 points went along with 4 steals and 3 assists in the win. Williams shot 7-for-17 from the floor and nailed 5-of-6 free throws while dishing out 5 assists.
Dominican shot a solid 55.6 percent (30-54), including 53.9 percent (7-13) from beyond the arc in the first half, but Bloomfield closed the gap in the second stanza by going to the hole and drawing thirteen (10-13) free throw attempts to the Chargers two (1-2). Bloomfield held a slight edge on the glass (33-31) and points in the paint (38-32), but the Hawks turned in better bench production with a 33-14 point advantage. Defensively the Bears snagged 10 steals and won the turnover battle forcing 15-8 Charger miscues.
The Bears return to action Saturday, Jan. 17 at 2:00 p.m. when they hit the road to face Stonehill College at the Merkert Gymnasium. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, from the Bloomfield College athletic department by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter or Instagram @GO_BCBears.
