Feb. 24, 2008

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River Forest, IL - The Dominican University Stars, behind 23 points from Rashim Lettsome (Waukegan, IL) secured a first round home game in the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) Men's Basketball Tournament with a 70-57 win over the MSOE Raiders on Saturday evening.

The 6-foot Lettsome poured in his career-high, and game-high, 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the field, including 3-for-4 from long range, and 4-for-6 shooting from the free throw line to lead four Dominican players, all seniors, in double-figure scoring on senior day at the Igini Sports Forum.

Andre Smith (Cleveland, OH) equaled his career-high with 16 points on the night, scoring eight first half points as the Stars opened up a 29-25 lead over the game's first 20 minutes. Mike Haiduc (Chicago, IL) added 12 points while Jose Garcia (Kenosha, WI) chipped in 10 points as the Stars' starting five combined to score 67 of the team's 70 points.

The win moved the Stars into a tie for fourth place in the NAC with MSOE with both team's at 11-7 in league play. The Stars won the tiebreaker over the Raiders with the win on Saturday, earning the right to host MSOE on Tuesday night in the opening round of the NAC Men's Basketball Tournament.

The win improved the Stars overall record to 14-11, with the Stars winning four in a row to close out the regular season and 10 of 13 games after starting the year 4-8 overall and 1-4 in the NAC. Tipoff for Tuesday night's contest is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. with the winner to face either top-seeded Aurora University or Benedictine University, the tournament's eighth seed, in the tournament semifinal round on Thursday.