CALDWELL, NJ– The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament shifted to the Championship host site on the campus of Caldwell University Saturday afternoon and the Bears men's basketball team captured a, 90-86 victory over Goldey-Beacom College. Bloomfield entered the semi-final match up with the #1 seed in the league's North Division and improved to 21-9 after the battle with the #2 seed from the South Division.
The tournament's overall #1 seed got the scoring underway on a tip-in by Rich Chapman (Newark, NJ) and halfway thru the opening half used a 10-0 spurt to claim a, 26-16 advantage. The Lightning (15-15) chipped away at their deficit and by the intermission break, secured a slim, 35-34 lead. Dontay Julius (Linden, NJ) came off the bench to lead all scorers at the half with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field followed by Chapman with 8.
A Chapman basket started the 2ndhalf of play and the teams battled back and forth for buckets in the period. The squads were tied at 71-71 with 7:02 on the clock when the Lightning struck for 8-straight points to put Bloomfield on their heels. A timeout from CACC Coach of the Year, Gerald Holmes, steadied the post-season experienced Bears and they reeled off a 19-7 run to secure their 2ndtournament finals appearance in three years.
Julius led all scorers with 24 points on a lights-out 9-of-12 shooting from the field. All-CACC 2ndteam member, Keith Washington (Philadelphia, PA) finished his afternoon with 20 points which included 4-of-4 from the free throw line down the stretch to cement his team's win. The CACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, Kavione Green (Amityville, NY) finished the day with 18 points, 7 boards and a block while Chapman rounded out the top scorers with a modest 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting.
The CACC Tournament final was set when the #2 seed in the north, Dominican College defeated, the #1 south team, Jefferson, 65-57 during the second semi-final of the day. Bloomfield will now face the Chargers on Sunday at the George R Newman Center on Mark A. Corino Court in a rematch of the 2016-17 CACC Championship game, also hosted by Caldwell University. The 'all-north division' final will be the teams' third meeting this season and has all types of deja-vu, local rivalries and good old-fashion basketball stories behind the scenes but the Champion of the CACC will be decided on the court with a 12:00 pm tip-off.
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