CALDWELL, N.J.- Senior Dawan Lighty (Paterson, NJ) netted 13 points but the Caldwell University men's basketball team came up short to the Dominican College Chargers 61-59 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference play.
 
The Cougars fall to 5-12 overall and 3-7 in the CACC, while the Chargers improve to 6-12 and 5-4 in conference play.
 
The teams traded leads early in the game as the Cougars eventually pulled ahead by five points near the midway points of the half. The Chargers chipped away as they scored the final 10 points of the half to lead 32-26 at the break.
 
Dominican maintained a lead early in the second half as they led 39-33 with 14:21 to play in the game. The Cougars battled back to tie the score at 41 following a triple by senior Salvatore Vitello (Bridgewater, NJ) at the 9:19 mark. The Chargers retook the lead as they extended out to a five point advantage at 46-41 with 7:22 left in the game. Caldwell answered with the next six points, capped by a tip-in from senior Billy McDonald (North Haven, CT) to give the Cougars a 48-47 lead with 4:01 remaining in the game.
 
The Chargers went on a 9-2 run to push ahead 55-49 with one minute to play in the game. Caldwell connected on three triples in the final minute with two coming from Vitello and one from Lighty. Dominican hit seven free throws in the final minute to hold off the late Cougar run to take the win by two points.
 
For the Cougars, Lighty netted 13 points along with five rebounds, while Vitello totaled 13 points, three assists and three steals. McDonald tallied 13 points and six boards, while freshman Ned Ogoemesim (Westampton, NJ) finished with seven points and four rebounds.
 
Due to the impending snow storm this weekend, the Cougars will travel to Georgian Court University on Friday, January 22 for a 7 pm start time.