The Dominican University men's basketball team opened their home slate on Tuesday evening at the Igini Sports Forum, topping the Maranatha Baptist University Sabrecats 86-65 to move to 2-0 on the campaign.  The Stars splashed 12 threes in the winning effort and assisted on 22 of their 31 field goals.
 
"We struggled with our defensive positioning a bit in the first half," commented Mark White, the Stars' head men's basketball coach," and that resulted in 16 free throws for Maranatha Baptist. I thought we played with a lot more defensive energy in the second half and it was great to see how we shared the basketball. Overall, it was a nice way to start our home season."
 
Leading by just six at the break and seven, 53-46, with just over 14 minutes to play, the Stars went on a 16-5 run to put some distance between themselves and the Sabrecats.  Dennis Handy scored five of his team-high 18 during the stretch while Luke McDermott put the exclamation point on the run, knocking down one of his five threes to cap the run and extend the Stars' lead to 69-51 with just under nine minutes to play.
 
Maranatha Baptist managed to trim the lead down to 14 on two separate occasions, but each time the Stars had an answer, including a quick 7-0 spurt that saw back-to-back buckets from Tyler Guest and Nick Lavere before Guest and Dylan Anderson converted on three of four free throws to put the game out of reach.
 
On the night, the Stars shot 31-for-68 on the night, going 12-for-37 from behind the three-point arc, and converted on 12 of 19 attempts from the foul line.
 
Dominican took care of the basketball, turning the ball over just 14 times while forcing 21 Sabrecat turnovers, leading to 31 points for the Stars.
 
Handy finished the night with a game-high 18 points, knocking down four three pointers and shooting 6-for-10 from the floor.  McDermott added 17 points, connecting on five of his eight three-point attempts, while Guest finished with his first double-double of the season, dropping in 14 points and pulling down 11 boards.
 
For the Sabrecats, Aaron Sanders finished with a game-high 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting while Stephen Wilkerson added 18 points in 26 minutes.
 
The Stars, 2-0, will open Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play on Saturday, hosting the Concordia University Wisconsin Falcons for a 2:00 p.m. tipoff at the Igini Sports Forum.