BLOOMFIELD, N.J. - Senior Claude Blue (Brooklyn, N.Y.) shot 8-for-11 from the field as the Bears went up by twenty-one at half time only to watch the Griffins of Chestnut Hill College battle back in Central Atlantic Collegiate College (CACC) action Friday evening. Blue netted 22 points and Bloomfield held on for a 82-80 victory at home to quiet the Griffins second half surge.

The Bears improved to 8-10 with their fourth consecutive win and now sit atop the CACC North Division at 7-4 while Chestnut Hill fell to 4-6 in league play and 7-11 overall with the setback.

Sophomore Rakwan Kelly (Newark, N.J.) dropped 21 points (9-15 FG, 3-4 FT) to go along with 7 rebounds four assists and two steals, while classmate Nick Davidson (Lumberton, N.J.) scored 13 (3-6 FG, 1-2 3-FG, 6-8 FT) and added four boards, dished out a career-high six assists, and snagged three steals. Sophomore Ignacio Diez (Madrid, Spain) and the freshman tandem of Safee Abdus-Sabur (Newark, N.J.) and Robert Lewis (Jersey City, N.J.) all had six points each for the Bears.
 
Edward McWade led Chestnut Hill with 21 points, while senior Luke Dickson registered 19 including his 1,000^th point as a Griffin.
 
Bloomfield led the contest from wire to wire and jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first 1:22 of the contest before a pair of Dickson free throws put Chestnut Hill on the board 2:00 in. The lead was 9-7 when a 17-2 spurt for Bloomfield – with seven points from Kelly – opened up the game with 7:19 remaining in the first half. Dickson reached his milestone at 6:15 on a contested three-pointer that tickled the bottom of the net for his 1,000^th career point. Blue scored the Bears next nine points as the home team enjoyed a 33-14 advantage with 5:11 on the clock. A Lewis bucket in the paint concluded the scoring for the half and Bloomfield posted their largest halftime lead of the season at 46-25 after shooting 57.1 percent from the field.
 
The Bears held the momentum for the first ten minutes out of the locker room and kept the Griffins at bay with a 63-41 advantage with 11:25 to play. Chestnut Hill never gave up and chipped away at Bloomfield lead until they got it to single digits (72-63) with 4:53 remaining. Dickson rallied his team and capped a 12-6 spurt with a bucket from beyond the arc to pull within 78-75 with just under two minutes left in the game. The Bears, normally playing the comeback role, calmly sank a total of eight consecutive free throws down the stretch that ultimately put the game out of reach for the Griffins.   
 
Chestnut Hill came back to outshoot Bloomfield, 47.6 percent (30-63) to 45.6 percent (26-57), including a 44.8 percent (13-29) to 33.3 percent (4-12) edge from deep. The Bears won the glass (39-28) and the paint (30-26), in addition to having a slightly better assist-to-turnover ratio (14/13-13/14). Despite the low turnover numbers, Bloomfield was able to gain a 21-5 advantage in points off mistakes.
 
The Bears take a quick two-game road after Storm Jonas blows over beginning on Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m. when they take on Dominican College looking for the series sweep. Then next Saturday, Jan. 30 they hit the 'Road Trip to Philly' to face their top rival, the Philadelphia University Rams at 4:00 p.m. The next home game for the Bears will be Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. when they play host to Concordia College at the Bloomfield College Gym.
 
Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, from the Bloomfield College athletic department by liking the Bears on Facebook and following the Bears on Twitter or Instagram @GO_BCBears. Use the hashtag #BCBears to join the conversation.