Box Score The Dominican University men’s basketball team fell 87-82 to the Beloit College Buccaneers in the first road game for the Stars on the 2012-2013 season.  Anthony Keener (Carol Stream, Ill.) continued his hot start to the season, scoring a team-high 27 points in the losing effort.
 
The Stars nearly erased an 11-point halftime deficit, scoring the first seven points of the second half as RJ Dilay (Morton Grove, Ill.) scored five straight, knocking down a three, one of four in the game for the Stars’ senior guard, before knocking down a pair of free throws after a steal on the defensive end of the court to cut the Buccaneer lead to 47-43 with under 18 minutes to play.
 
However, Beloit roared back with a 10-2 run to push the lead back to 12, 57-45, on a three from Marcus Ford.
 
The Beloit lead grew to as many as 14 with 9:33 remaining in the second half before back-to-back three’s from Keener got the Stars to within eight, 67-59.
 
The teams traded baskets until Dilay and Kyle Sherwin (White Lake, Mich.) put the Stars on a 5-0 run with a Dilay three followed by a slashing lay in from Sherwin to pull Dominican within 71-66.
 
The Stars could not get any closer nor would Dominican let Beloit pull away as a pair of three’s from Dilay in the final two minutes kept the Stars within five.
 
For Dominican, Keener was 8-for-18 from the field, including 4-for-9 from three-point range, and a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul line.  As a team, the Stars shot 51-percent from the field (26-for-51) and 8-for-17 from behind the three-point stripe.  Sherwin chipped in 20 points while Taylor DeRoo (Holland, Mich.) and Dilay added 16 points apiece for the Stars.
 
The Buccaneers, led by James Lazarcik’s game-high 29 points, shot over 55-percent from the field (35-for-63) and converted on 15 of their 20 attempts from the foul line.  Lazarcik also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, seven on the offensive glass, as Beloit outmuscled the Stars on the boards, 35-22, including 14 offensive rebounds for the Buccaneers.
 
The Stars, now 1-3 on the season, return home to open Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) play on Tuesday, hosting the Rockford College Regents for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff in the Igini Sports Forum.