The Dominican University men's basketball team was edged on Saturday afternoon at the Igini Sports Forum, falling to the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) leading Benedictine University Eagles, 76-67. The loss drops the Stars to 8-9 overall and 4-8 in the conference.
Dominican kept pace with the Eagles throughout the afternoon, pulling within three, 62-59, when
Luke McDermott knocked down one of his four second-half threes with 6:26 to play. Benedictine then scored eight straight over the next two minutes to push lead back to 11, 70-59, and kept the Stars at bay, going 3-for-4 from the foul line in the final minute.
"I thought we played hard and tough against a quality opponent," said
Mark White, the Stars' head men's basketball coach. "The team did a nice job executing our defensive game plan on [Eric] Grygo, but we broke down a few times at the three-point line and drives to the basket."
McDermott was one of four Stars in double-figures, finishing with 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting from three.
Jackson Smith added a team-high 17 points, converting on all nine of his attempts from the free throw line while
Tyler Guest notched his seventh double-double of the season, third in the last four games, scoring 15 points and grabbing ten rebounds.
Dennis Handy added ten points on 4-for-8 shooting from the field in the losing effort.
As a team, the Stars shot 23-for-57 from the field, including 8-for-26 from three, and connected on 13 of 14 trips to the foul line.
Benedictine shot just over 53-percent from the field, 26-for-49, and hit on 11 of 19 attempts from three. The Eagles made 27 trips to the foul line, but hit on just 13 attempts. Nick Kosich dropped in a game-high 20 points to lead the Eagles. Kosich shot 6-for-12 from the field, including 3-for-5 from three, in 34 minutes of work.
Dominican will look to snap a three-game losing streak on Wednesday, traveling to Mequon, Wisconsin, for a NACC tilt at Concordia University Wisconsin. Tipoff between the Stars and Falcons is slated for 7:00 p.m.
