The Dominican University men's basketball team, averaging 77.7 points per game entering Saturday, needed just 61 points to top the MSOE Raiders, 61-52, at the Igini Sports Forum to move to 5-3 on the season and 3-1 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC).
 
"We had been saying all week that we were going to have to play thirty seconds of defense," commented Tim Robertson following the win.  "We knew they ran their offense all the way through until they could get a good shot so we worked all week on defense—staying down, talking through screens. So we came prepared and played hard."
 
Despite shooting just 37.5 percent in the first half and Robertson and Josh Mayberry, the Stars' two highest scorers on the season, being held to just nine points combined, Dominican trailed by just two, 29-27, at the half.
 
After a three-plus minute scoreless drought for Dominican to open the second half, the Raiders' lead grew to five and stayed there until Isaac Moore and Mayberry fueled a 5-0 run for Dominican that spanned just 19 seconds to even the game at 37-37 with 11:36 to play.
 
Two and half minutes later, the Stars took their first lead of the half when Robertson got a runner in the lane to go off the glass, putting the Stars ahead 41-39.
 
After MSOE evened the score on their next possession, Mayberry scored five straight for Dominican to put the Stars back in the lead, 46-41 with 7:07 remaining in the half.
 
MSOE made one more push, trimming the Stars' lead to one, 50-49, when Alex Darville hit a corner three with 3:34 to go.  Dominican answered on the next possession as Robertson buried a wing three, his only three-point field goal of the game.
 
Dominican then put the game away as Robertson and Mayberry combined to score the Stars' final ten points over the last 3:17 of the game.
 
Robertson finished with a game-high 20 points, including 15 in the second half, and pulled down ten rebounds for his third double-double of the season.  The junior shot 7-for-16 from the field and converted on five of seven attempts from the free throw line.
 
Mayberry added 16 points for the Stars in the winning effort, dropping in 11 in the second half. The Canton, Michigan, native added five rebounds, five assists and four steals in an all-around effort.
 
For the Raiders, Darville finished with a team-high 14 points, leading three in double-figures.
 
Dominican ended the game shooting 42-percent from the field while MSOE managed to shoot just 33.3 percent.
 
Dominican now has a week to prepare for their next game, a 3:00 p.m. tipoff against the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons in the Igini Sports Forum on Saturday, December 17.