The Dominican University men's basketball team dropped its fourth straight contest, slipping to 2-4 on the season and 0-3 in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play, falling to the Benedictine University Eagles 74-63 on Saturday afternoon at the Dan and Ada Rice Center in Lisle, Illinois.
 
"I thought the team competed hard and battled to the very end," commented Mark White, the Stars' head men's basketball coach. "Benedictine has been playing very well and could be ranked soon. However, in a game like this, you need to value every possession and we just didn't get it done with our turnovers, shot selections and giving up offensive rebounds."
 
The Stars, paced by KJ Redfield's 16 points off the bench, shot just over 41-percent from the field, connecting on 26 of 63 attempts from the field.
 
Benedictine managed just two more field goals in the win, going 28-for-58 from the field, but held a marked advantage at the foul line, going 15-for-24 at the charity stripe while Dominican made just five trips to the free throw line, going 3-for-5.
 
With the score tied 24-24 with 6:23 to go in the first half, the Eagles closed the opening period on a 15-4 run, capped by a Kenny Bogus jumper in the final ten seconds of the half to open a double-digit, 39-28 lead at the break.  Dominican cut the lead down to nine on two separate occasions, including 72-63 when Dennis Handy knocked down a three with 1:25 to play but could not manage to get any closer.
 
Jackson Smith added 11 points on 5-for-14 shooting, rounding out two in double-figures scoring for the Stars.
 
For Benedictine, Eric Grygo scored a game-high 28 points on 12-for-14 shooting. Mike Boatright added 14 points while Kyle Graebner totaled 12 points.
 
Dominican will be back in action on Wednesday, December 11, hosting the Illinois Tech Scarlet Hawks for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff at the Igini Sports Forum.