Trailing 14-10 with 11 minutes to play in the first half, the Dominican University men's basketball team went on a 23-8 run over the next eight minutes, capped by a Josh Mayberry dunk in transition to open a 33-22 lead en route to an 83-73 win for the Stars over the Knox College Prairie Fire in non-conference action at the Igini Sports Forum on Tuesday night.
 
Mayberry's dunk forced a Knox timeout and Dominican's Tim Robertson buried a three less than a minute later to open the Stars' largest lead of the first half, 36-23.
 
A quick seven-point spurt by the Prairie Fire trimmed the Stars' lead down to six before Robertson beat the halftime buzzer with a running three from just beyond half court as the Stars took a 39-30 lead at the break.
 
The teams traded baskets throughout much of the second half with the lead hovering between 5-10 points through the first 13 minutes of the half.  With just under seven minutes to play, Mayberry buried a wing three and then converted on one of two free throws after the Stars' senior guard collected a steal on the defensive end of the floor.
 
After a Knox jumper by Robert Suntken, Isaac Moore knocked down a three from the corner to extend the Dominican lead to 71-60 with six minutes to play.
 
The closest that Knox would get the rest of the way was nine as Dominican held the Prairie Fire to just 39-percent shooting from the field for the game.
 
"This was a good win for us," said Mark White, the Stars' head coach. "The guys came out and really got after defensively.  We held Knox to 32-percent shooting from the field in the first half and that really set the tone. I feel like at this point our defense has improved from last year but we still need to clean up some rebounding."
 
Mayberry and Robertson combined to score 54 points on the night.  Mayberry led the way with 28 points on 9-for-17 shooting while Robertson scored a season-high 26 points on 10-for-17 shooting from the field, including knocking down a career-high four three-point field goals.
 
Dominican also got 23 points from its bench as Moore chipped in eight points in 22 minutes while Domenic Aiello and Mike Lizak added seven and six points apiece in 18 minutes of work each.
 
As a team, Dominican shot over 45-percent (29-64) from the field while connecting on 11 of 27 attempts from three-point range.
 
Knox, led by Suntken's 17 points off the bench, converted at a 39-percent clip from the field, including 6-for-27 from three-point distance.
 
The Stars, now 1-2 on the season, open Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play on Saturday, traveling to Rockford, Illinois, to take on the Rockford University Regents.  Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.