ORANGEBURG, N.Y. - A late comeback attempt fell just short as the Caldwell College men's basketball team lost to Dominican College, 80-77 in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game Thursday evening at the Hennessy Center. The defeat ends a three-game winning streak for the Cougars, who are now 5-10 overall and 3-2 in the conference. The Chargers snap a two-game losing skid to improve to 7-7, 2-2 CACC.

After a three-pointer by Dominican's Will Carty put the Chargers ahead 76-69 with three minutes to play, seven points by senior forward B.J. Suchy (Ronkonkoma, NY/Our Savior New American) sparked an 8-2 Caldwell run that made the score 78-77 Dominican with 52 seconds on the clock. The Cougars forced a turnover on the next possession and had an opportunity to take the lead, but Suchy's jumper with nine seconds left was off the mark. Brandon Brock, who grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made both foul shots for an 80-77 advantage. A three-pointer at the buzzer by senior guard Hans Stelzer (Selden, NY/Our Savior New American) did not drop, sealing the Cougars' fate.

Caldwell led for most of the first half and took a 38-37 lead at the break. The Chargers opened the second half with an 11-3 run to go ahead 48-41, only to have the Cougars tie the game on five points from Suchy and a lay-up by sophomore guard Eddie Crockett (Passaic, NJ/Passaic) that made it 48-48 with 14:32 left. Dominican maintained the upper hand but never led by more than six points until Carty's three-pointer at the three-minute mark. The Chargers held the hot hand in the second half, making 64.3 percent of their shots from the field. Caldwell also shot the ball well, shooting 54.7 percent for the game. But the Cougars turned the ball over 20 times, resulting in 23 points for Dominican.

Suchy led all scorers with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. Junior forward Manny Perez (Egg Harbor Twp., NJ/Egg Harbor Twp.) tallied 15 points and a team-best seven rebounds, while Crockett scored 10 points. The Chargers had a balanced attack offensively, as Carty, Brock and Kresimar Knez each scored 13 points. Knez also had eight boards in the win.

Next up for Caldwell is a home game against CACC North rival Bloomfield College on Wednesday, Jan. 16. The game is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. in the George R. Newman Center.