CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College men's basketball team opened the 2009-2010 season with a 63-48 loss to Le Moyne College in a non-conference game Sunday afternoon in the George R. Newman Center. The Cougars, who were 12-16 a year ago, begin the new campaign 0-1. The Dolphins, who were 20-11 in 2008-09, are 1-0.
Le Moyne broke open a close game with back-to-back three-pointers by James Cormier and Chris Johnson that sparked a 10-0 run late in the second half to take a 27-18 lead. The Dolphins made 5-of-8 from long range in the first half en route to a 32-24 advantage at the break. A three-pointer from senior guard John Reed (Wall, NJ/Wall) and three free throws by sophomore guard Nik Otovic (Kraljevo, Serbia) helped reduce the deficit to four, 34-30 with 16:23 left in the second half. But Le Moyne answered with nine straight points, including threes from Johnson and Durrett Miles, to build the lead to 43-30 with 12 minutes remaining. Caldwell cut the lead to eight twice, but the Dolphins maintained a double-digit advantage over the final eight minutes to clinch the victory.
Caldwell forced 23 Le Moyne turnovers and recorded 11 steals, but the Dolphins shot 60.5 percent from the field for the game, including 7-of-14 from three-point range. Le Moyne, which beat Division I Syracuse University in an exhibition earlier this month, received 26 points from its bench compared to 10 for Caldwell's reserves.
Otovic, pictured, finished with 15 points to lead the Cougars, while junior Antonio Brimley (Paterson, NJ/Paterson Eastside) tallied 12 points and four rebounds in his first game as a Cougar. Freshman forward Karel Thuwis (Zonhoven, Belgium/Brehm Prep) also had a good debut for Caldwell with a team-best six rebounds. Johnson led all scorers with 18 points, with Damani Corbin adding 13 points and four steals. The Cougars held All-American forward Laurence Ekperigin to 10 points and nine boards.
The Cougars face another team from the Northeast-10 Conference on Saturday, Nov. 21, when they play at UMass.-Lowell. Game time is set for 5:00 p.m. in Lowell, Mass.
