The Dominican University bench scored 53 points on Thursday night to lift the Stars to an 88-73 win over the visiting Maranatha Baptist University Sabrecats in non-conference play at the Igini Sports Forum.  With the win, the Stars pull back to .500 at 3-3 with a return to Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play scheduled for Saturday when Dominican travels to Concordia University Wisconsin.
 
With the Stars trailing 13-6 early in the first half, Domenic Aiello and Antonio Amoah came off the bench, igniting a 16-4 run, capped by a transition bucket by Nick LaVere as Dominican opened a 22-17 lead with 10:13 to play in the first half.
 
The Crusaders trimmed the lead back to two before another LaVere basket on the fastbreak before Aiello sank a pair of free throws to push the lead back to six.  After the teams traded buckets, Jackson Smith buried a three from the right wing to push the Stars' lead to nine, 31-22, with 4:26 to play in the half.
 
Dominican continued to add to the lead over the final four minutes of the half, eventually opening an 18-point lead, 44-26, on a put-back by Amoah in the final minute before Maranatha's RJ Medina scored the final basket of the half to cut the Stars lead to 44-28.
 
Jonny Woolf then took over in the second half as Dominican kept the Sabrecats at bay.  Woolf logged a double-double in the second half alone, pouring in 14 of his 18 points in the second half and pulling down ten of his game-high 13 rebounds. Woolf shot 6-for-8 from the field and collected three assists and three steals during the final 20 minutes to put the game away.
 
"We had great play from our bench tonight," commented Mark White, the Stars' head coach. "We have done a really nice job of moving the basketball on the offensive end of the floor the last two games, and that has led to recent success."
 
Amoah and Aiello shared game-high honors with 21 points apiece, leading four in double-figures scoring.  Woolf added 18 points and 13 rebounds to go along with six assists and five steals in 35 minutes of work while Smith finished with 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field.
 
For the Sabrecats, Jonathan Book finished with a team-high 20 points while Justin Blake logged a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in the losing effort.