No. 2 Men's Basketball Advances To ECC Final With 84-62 Win Over Dowling
Box Score
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (March 7, 2009) – Second-ranked C.W. Post continued its perfect season by defeating Dowling College, 84-62, in the semifinal round of the East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Championships Wednesday evening at the Center for Recreation and Sports at Adelphi University.
Seeded first in the tournament, the Pioneers improve to 26-0 and will face the winner of Saturday's second semifinal contest between Adelphi University and University of Bridgeport. It is the fourth straight year C.W. Post has advanced to the conference final.
Senior guard
Nick Carter (Huntington Station, N.Y.) led the game in scoring with 25 points, connecting on 7 of 15 from the floor while converting 8 of 9 from the charity stripe. He added nine rebounds, four assists and five steals to the statsheet.
The Pioneers shot a collective .473 (26 of 55) from the floor and held a 46-32 advantage on the boards. The Golden Lions shot .371 (23 of 62) from field goal range.
The game started off when junior forward Alioune Ndiaye scored a lay-in from the right post at 19:45. The Pioneers answered, knocking off three straight trifectas, beginning with senior guard
Kenny Burkes (Suitland, Md.) from the top of the key at 19:18 to take an early 9-2 lead.
The Golden Lions cut the lead to within four (14-10) with 14:06 on the clock before surrendering nine points courtesy of back-to-back jumpers from Carter mixed in with a three-point field goal and jumper from junior
Roberto Macklin (Beacom, N.Y.) to lead 23-10 with 10:46 on the clock.
Dowling cut the deficit to seven (25-18) by outscoring C.W. Post 8-2 over the next two minutes of play. C.W. Post built its lead back up with seven straight and led by as many as 16 points (44-28) with 1:59 left to play.
The Pioneers' defense proved valuable in the second half as they kept the Golden Lions to a 29 percentage from the floor. The Pioneers rattled off seven straight points that culminated with a three-pointer shot by Carter from the right wing at 17:44.
C.W. Post maintained a double-figure lead for the remainder of the game, never letting Dowling to get within close range.
Carter scored 13 points in the half while senior guard
Jonathan Schmidt (Centereach, N.Y.) and senior forward
Kellen Scantlebury (South Setauket, N.Y.) each chipped in 10.
Schmidt completed the game with 21 points and Scantlebury registered a season-high 16 points.
Dowling's highest scorers were sophomore guards Keith Nandin and Sean Smith, who each had 14 in the game.