The Dominican University men's basketball team scored at a frantic pace on Tuesday night at the Igini Sports Forum, scoring a program record 123 points in a 145-123 loss to the visiting Greenville University Panthers. The Stars connected on 14 of their 35 attempts from three-point distance as they tried to keep pace with the highest scoring offense in the country. The 14 made three pointers also tied the Dominican program record for three-pointers in a game since Dominican joined the NCAA Division III ranks in 2000.
"I was really proud of the effort we put forth tonight," commented Mark White, the Stars' head men's basketball coach. "Greenville is a very good program that has been to the national tournament. We were able to keep pace with them for the first 20-plus minutes. We played with energy and intensity throughout the night and it was only as we grew fatigued did we get away from what was working for us, settling on offense when we could have gotten better looks.. Greenville never lets up. They defend hard, hit the boards hard and get out and run."
The Stars went toe-to-toe with the Panthers for the first 20 minutes, heading to the locker room tied at the half, 65-65.
Antonio Amoah scored 18 of his game-high 30 points in the first half. As a team, Dominican shot 10-for-21 from three in the opening half, with
Isaac Moore going 3-for-5 for 11 points in the half while
Dennis Handy added a pair of threes of his own and 11 points as three Stars reached double-figures scoring in the opening 20 minutes.
In the second half, the Panthers used a 17-6 run over the first four minutes to open an 11-point, 82-71 lead. Dominican managed to whittle the lead all the way down to four, 84-80, when
Christopher Burel buried a corner three with 13:45 to play before a 20-9 run for the Panthers pushed the lead back to 15 and Dominican never managed to cut its deficit back into single-digits the rest of the night.
Amoah finished shooting 12-for-17 from the field as Dominican shot just under 58-percent (44-76) from the field. Handy and
Jackson Smith added 20 apiece while
Connor Dartt (13) and Moore (11) rounded out five players in double-figures for the Stars.
For the Panthers, Johari Dix led six in double-figures with a team-high 24 points. Eric Williams added 23 and Marvin Bateman finished with 21 points as Greenville shot 53-for-114 from the field, including connecting on 15 of 43 attempts from beyond the three-point stripe.
The loss drops the Stars to 1-6 on the season with a return to Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play on deck. The Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors take the trip down to River Forest on Saturday to face the Stars. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. in the Igini Sports Forum.
