CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College men's basketball team dropped a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game to Dominican College, 74-67 Tuesday night in the George R. Newman Center. The loss is the Cougars' third in a row and leaves them at 3-16 overall and 2-9 in the conference, while the Chargers improve to 10-12, 6-5 CACC.
Caldwell held the lead early, 20-11 before Dominican came back with a 12-2 run to go on top 23-22 with 8:40 left in the first half. Three-pointers by junior guard Antonio Brimley (Paterson, NJ/Paterson Eastside) and sophomore guard Nik Otovic (Kraljevo, Serbia) helped Caldwell regain the lead and eventually take a 38-35 advantage at the half. Sophomore guard Malcolm Austin (Albany, NY/Christian Brothers) was on fire in the first half, shooting 8-of-10 from the field and making 3-of-4 from three-point range en route to 19 points. Both teams shot well from the field, with Caldwell making 53.3 percent compared to 60.9 percent for the Chargers.
Five more points from Austin, including another three, sparked Caldwell to a 48-40 lead with 16:30 to play in the second half. The lead was still eight, 50-42, when Dominican scored the next 12 points, capped by a three from Brendan McManus, to push the Chargers ahead 54-50 with 11 minutes on the clock. The Cougars answered with a 7-0 run of their own, buoyed by four points from senior forward Matt Cohen (Forked River, NJ/Manasquan), that made the score 57-54 Caldwell with 8:46 remaining. But Dominican responded again by scoring nine straight points, including three from Leon Porter, to regain the upper hand 63-57 with 6:16 left in the game. Caldwell pulled to within two points three times, the last time following a basket by freshman guard Cameron Badger (Trenton, NJ/Living Faith Christian) that made the score 69-67 with 2:27 on the clock. The Cougars had three chances to tie the game but came up empty, and Porter hit three free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach.
Both teams ended up shooting over 50 percent from the field for the game, with Dominican hitting 56.1 percent compared to 51.9 percent for Caldwell. The difference came at the free throw line, as Dominican attempted 21 free throws to 11 for Caldwell, with the Chargers making 19-of-21 (90.5 percent). The visitors also earned a 28-19 edge on the glass. Caldwell followed up Saturday's nine-turnover performance at Holy Family by committing just five turnovers for the game tonight.
Austin had a career night, scoring 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the floor and four three-pointers to go with six assists and three steals. Brimley finished with 14 points and nine rebounds in the loss. Porter paced Dominican with 19 points and 11 assists, while Almin Hodzic added 11 points and 10 boards.
Next up for the Cougars is a CACC North game at Felician College on Thursday, Feb. 4, beginning at 8:00 p.m. in Rutherford, N.J.
