ORANGEBURG, N.Y. - The Caldwell College men's basketball team fell to Queens College, 78-70 in the first game of the James Clancy Memorial Tournament, held at the Hennessy Center at Dominican College Sunday afternoon. With the loss, the Cougars drop to 3-7 on the season, while the Knights improve to 7-1.
Queens built an early 22-9 advantage before a 17-3 Caldwell run allowed the Cougars to take a 26-25 lead with 5:44 remaining in the first half. Junior guard Nik Otovic (Kraljevo, Serbia), junior guard Derrick Ross (Newark, NJ/Newark Westside) and sophomore forward Arthur Morrison (Phillipsburg, NJ/APEX) each tallied five points in the run. But the Knights reeled off a 20-4 spree to grab a commanding 45-30 lead at halftime. Anderson Labase tallied 13 points in the first half for Queens, including five in the late run.
A conventional three-point play from senior forward Antonio Brimley (Paterson, NJ/Paterson Eastside) and a three-pointer by sophomore guard Robert McPherson (Bowie, MD/Bullis) helped the Cougars score the first seven points of the second half and cut the deficit to 45-37. Queens prevented Caldwell from getting closer than eight points until the game's final seconds, while leading by as many as 16 points en route to its sixth straight win. The Cougars held a slight 44-42 rebounding advantage and shot 40.0 percent from the field compared to 38.7 percent for Queens. But the Knights hit six three-pointers for the game, four more than Caldwell.
Morrison, pictured, made 5-of-7 from the floor and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Otovic also had 15 points while dishing out four assists. Junior center Peter Diffley (Bellerose, NY/Episcopal) added 13 points and seven boards off the bench, and Brimley contributed 11 points and eight rebounds. Queens' Akim Neverson led all players with 20 points to go with seven boards, and Labase ended up with 15 points and six assists.
Caldwell wraps up play at the Dominican Tournament with a non-conference game against Concordia College on Monday, Jan. 3 at 4:00 p.m. in the Hennessy Center.
