BLOOMFIELD, N.J. - Sophomore Juan Brown (Annapolis, M.D.) poured in a career-high 20 points to help lift the Bears over visiting Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) foe, Caldwell University Sunday afternoon. The CACC North Division battle went into overtime but in the end Bloomfield prevailed 79-76 and improved to 4-2 in conference play. Brown and the Bears also moved their overall record to 4-8 on the season and handed Caldwell their fourth CACC loss (2-4) and ninth overall defeat (4-9).

Brown shot 6-for-12 to go along with five rebounds, four assists and two steals while classmate, Nick Davidson (Lumberton, N.J.), went 5 of 14 from the floor and 8 of 9 from the line for a total of 20 points on the afternoon.
 
Billy McDonald led all scorers with 21 points on the Caldwell side and Salvatore Vitello snagged 9 boards for the Cougars.
 
Davidson opened the overtime session with a jumper off a dish from senior Claude Blue (Brooklyn, N.J.) that sparked a 6-0 run and put Bloomfield on top for good. The Cougars battled back to within two (76-78) with twenty-five seconds remaining to build up some suspense however, after missing three free throws on consecutive trips to the line by Robert Lewis (Jersey City, N.J.), the Bears freshman sank his final attempt to ice the game and preserved the 79-76 win.
 
Blue registered 18 points (8-15 FG, 2-5 3-FG) and nine rebounds for Bloomfield, while sophomore transfer Rakwan Kelly (Newark, N.J.) added a solid 13 points and 8 boards during the victory.
 
Bloomfield opened the night with a 12-4 outburst that included their first five points from Davidson and the next seven points from Brown. The sophomore tandem amassed twenty-four combined points in the first half and sent the Bears into the locker room up 45-30 over Caldwell.
 
A McDonald layup capped six straight Cougar points to open the second half and cut the Bloomfield lead below single digits (45-34) just over a minute in. After another layup from McDonald at the 9:29 minute mark trimmed the visitors' deficit to 55-48, Bloomfield answered back and a Brown three-ball flexed the home squad's lead back to double-digits.  The Cougars dug their claws in and mounted an 11-2 charge that included a Vitello 3-pointer that pulled them to 66-64. Caldwell found two buckets after Davidson converted a pair of free throws to even the teams at 68-68 and force the overtime decision.
 
Caldwell outshot Bloomfield by a small margin, 43.9 percent (29-66) to 39.1 percent (25-64) while the Bears held a better mark from beyond the arc at 40.0 percent (8-20) to 22.2 percent (6-27). The Cougars were methodical at the line, shooting 80.0 percent (12-15) to the Bears' 67.7 percent (21-31). Caldwell also controlled the glass, 47-37, and points in the paint, 40-24. The Bears only turned the ball over 9 times, while forcing just 18 Caldwell mistakes and converted them into twenty-three points. 
 
Next on the radar for Bloomfield will be a road trip down the NJ Turnpike to face the CACC South Division's Wilmington University. The Wednesday evening matchup is set to tipoff at 8:00 pm in the Wilmington University Athletics Complex.
 
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