The Dominican University men's basketball team pulled out a 74-73 victory over the visiting Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks on Wednesday night at the Igini Sports Forum on freshman
Connor Dartt's 15-foot jumper with 3.8 seconds to play. With the win, the Stars move to 3-2 on the season to pull above .500 for the first time since December 2010.
"The play was setup for me to get the ball coming off a screen," commented
Josh Mayberry when asked about the game-winning play. "Coach told me to be aggressive—try to get to the bucket—but I knew they were going to be pressuring hard and focusing on me so I had to put trust into my teammates and Connor was open at the free throw line and knocked it down. That's definitely a confidence booster for a freshman. He's been playing well and is going to be a big piece for us going forward."
The Stars connected on their first four attempts from three, including two threes for Mayberry, to open a 14-6 lead in the first five minutes before Illinois Tech settled down.
Trailing 16-8 with 13:14 to play in the first half, the Scarlet Hawks went on a 14-4 run, capped by a Malik Howze three to open a 22-20 lead with 9:19 to remaining in the half. The Scarlett Hawks continued to build on the lead the rest of the half, holding a 40-35 lead at the break after leading by as many as eight along the way.
Early in the second half, the Scarlet Hawks added to their lead, taking their largest lead of the night, 61-48, on Samuel Rarick's lay-in in transition and forced a Dominican timeout.
Out of the timeout, Dominican went on a 9-0 run as the Scarlet Hawks did not score for nearly six minutes, allowing the Stars to pull within four, 61-57. After an Illinois Tech bucket stopped the drought, Mayberry converted on a pair of free throws and
Tim Robertson buried a three in transition as the Stars trimmed the lead all the way down to one, 63-62 with just over five minutes to play.
Illinois Tech continued to play with the lead until Mayberry found Dartt and
Keshaun Smith for back-to-back layups, giving the Stars a 72-71 lead with 0:37 remaining in the game. After Digiorgio scored in traffic with 17 seconds left, the Stars used a timeout with 11.1 seconds on the clock to talk about the final possession. Out of the timeout, Mayberry caught the ball off a screen on the left wing before driving middle and drawing Digiorgio into the lane, leaving Dartt alone near the top of the key. Mayberry kicked to the freshman who calmly buried the jumper with 3.8 seconds left for two of his six points in the game.
On Illinois Tech's last second desperation attempt, Mayberry blocked Digiorgio's attempt at the buzzer to preserve the win.
"In practice our coach talks about being able to fight off adversity and stick together," said Mayberry after the win. "We haven't let adversity hold us down this year—we actually come together. That is going to help us out and build our confidence as we know we can grind it out as we go through the year."
Mayberry led the Stars in scoring for the fifth straight game, dropping in 20 points on 7-for-15 shooting. Robertson added 19 while Smith led a 21-point effort for the Dominican bench with nine points.
Mayberry also led the Stars on the glass with nine rebounds and added six assists and three steals in 35 minutes.
Digiorgio paced the Scarlet Hawks with a career-high 26 points on 12-for-17 shooting from the field. Howze finished with 20 while Rarick rounded out three in double-figures with 12 points off the bench.
Illinois Tech held a 40-29 advantage on the glass while both sides connected on 29 field goals and ten free throws. Dominican's advantage on the scoreboard came as the Stars nailed down six three pointers to the Scarlet Hawks' five.
The Stars return to Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) league action on Saturday, traveling to Mequon, Wisconsin, to face the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. with Dominican eyeing its fourth straight victory for the first time since winning five games between January 9 and January 23 back in 2013.
