Men's Basketball | 3/2/2016 4:08:00 PM

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (March 2, 2016) -- The 2015-16 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Men's Basketball Championship continues on Friday with a pair of semifinal matchups that feature four intriguing teams in Holy Family University, Bloomfield College, Philadelphia University and the University of the Sciences.
 
The semis will tip off on Friday evening at 5 p.m. at the Hennessy Center on the campus of Dominican College (Orangeburg, N.Y.) with a showdown between South No. 1 seed Holy Family and South No. 3 seed USciences. Immediately following that contest will be the Bloomfield (North #1) - PhilaU (South #2) game, which will tip at approximately 7 p.m.
 
Holy Family (24-5) and USciences (17-11) will be meeting for the third time this season with the Tigers taking the first two contests. Despite the sweep, Holy Family had to work all 40 minutes both times out to collect the victories. The Tigers downed the Devils, 47-44, on the road back on Dec. 5, and then picked up a narrow 62-56 triumph at home on Jan. 20
 
In the December meeting, HFU raced out to a 13-point lead early in the second half, only to see USciences claw its way back to take a 44-43 edge with 2:24 remaining on a Flo Da-Silva layup. The Devils couldn't complete the comeback, as the Tigers scored the game's final four points -- including a layup from Reggie Charles -- to earn the three-point victory. Charles, Eric Flemingand Marvin Crawford each chipped in a team-best 11 points for the Holy Family, while Will Gregorits powered his way to 14 points and Sho Da-Silva followed with a dozen.
 
Crawford once again led the Holy Family offensive attack in the January meeting, as he pumped in 21 points. Charles wasn't too far off, as he netted 19 points including a trio of three-pointers. Wes Kerr and Gregorits poured in 19 and 18 points, respectively, for USciences.
 
Holy Family advanced to Friday's semifinals following a 76-60 win over Dominican this past Saturday in the quarterfinals. USciences went on the road and pulled off the upset over North No. 2 seed Post University, 96-90, in overtime. Crawford scored a team-high 17 points for HFU and USciences received 30 from Sho Da-Silva.
 
Bloomfield (15-12) and Philadelphia (22-7) met once during the regular season and it proved to be a thriller, which was played out in front of a national television/world-wide internet audience on ESPN3 back on Jan. 30 in Philadelphia. The Rams raced out to a huge second-half lead, but had to withstand a furious rally by the Bears to pull out a 79-75 victory.
TJ Huggins was outstanding on the offensive end for PhilaU by dropping in 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Peter Alexis followed with 20 points. Nick Davidson sparked Bloomfield with 18 points, as the Bears also received the same point total in a reserve role from Safee Abdus-Sabur.
 
The Rams led by as many as 16 in the second half, but Bloomfield countered with a 17-4 run midway through the stanza to pull within two at 63-61 with 7:39 remaining. Abdus-Sabur aided the rally with seven points including a deep three ball to cap it. The teams traded baskets before Davidson flipped in a layup to tie it at 67-67, but the Bears could not go ahead and PhilaU made its free throws late to complete the win.
 
Bloomfield got through Chestnut Hill College, 79-69, in Saturday's quarterfinals to reach championship weekend, while the Rams got a last-second three pointer from Huggins to down Concordia College 86-83. Alexis also powered Philadelphia to the win with 35 points on 17-of-22 shooting.
 
The two semifinal winners will advance to the CACC Championship Final on Saturday, as that contest will tip off at 7 p.m. The winner of the final will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II East Regional Tournament.
 
The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference composed of 14 institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The member institutions are Bloomfield College, Caldwell University, Chestnut Hill College, Concordia (N.Y.) College, Dominican (N.Y.) College, Felician University, Georgian Court University, Goldey-Beacom College, Holy Family University, Nyack College, Philadelphia University, Post University of Waterbury, University of the Sciences, and Wilmington University.

story courtesy of Doug DeBiase - Assistant Commissioner for Strategic Communications