FINAL SCORE: #2 Central Penn College Knights 83, #6 Johnson & Wales University Wildcats 74

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Team Stats

March 4, 2016

FINAL SCORE: #2 Central Penn College Knights 83, #6 Johnson & Wales University Wildcats 74

RECORDS: Central Penn (20-8); Johnson & Wales (16-13)

LOCATION: Penn State Fayette Main Arena, Uniontown, PA

IN BRIEF: With each team coming off overtime games from the quarterfinal round, Central Penn College and Johnson & Wales University NC played a tight semi-final contest Friday at the USCAA Men's Division II Tournament that led to yet another overtime contest.  However, John Starks, Jr., led the Knights with six extra time points as Central Penn dominated the overtime period to advance to Saturday's final with an 83-74 win.

 

ON THE COURT

  • Penn College jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest.
  • Three Johnson & Wales free throws got them into the scoring column after that, but the first Wildcat field goal did not come until Nick Crawford hit a layup to make it 10-5 with 15:05 on the clock.
  • Andre Batte had the hot hand for the Knights with 11 straight points, including three straight 3-point baskets to give Central Penn a 21-11 lead at the 12:16 mark.
  • JWU continued battling, whittling their deficit down to just three at the 6:26 mark after a Michael Cuthbertson layup made it 23-20 Knights.
  • Central Penn responded with a pair of baskets to push their lead back to 8 at 28-20, but JWU came back with a 10-2 run to tie the game at 30 with 2:03 left in the half.
  • After a John Starks, Jr., three pointer for the Knights, Cuthbertson made a jumper at the 1:15 mark to make the score 33-32 Central Penn, a score that would hold through the end of the half.
  • The Wildcats took their first lead of the game at 19:45 in the second half to make it 35-33.
  • Neither team could gain an advantage of more than two possessions until a Johnny Rhodes layup gave Central Penn a 69-61 lead with 3:42 reamining.
  • JWU battled back to tie the game with 55 seconds left, going on a 9-1 run to tie the game at 70.
  • Neither team managed a good look at the basket in the waning seconds of regulation, sending the game to overtime.
  • A John Starks, Jr., jumper gave the Knights a two-point advantage just 12 seconds into the OT period.
  • The Wildcats responded to tie the game at 72 at the 4:25 mark, but Central Penn ran off 9 straight points to take a 81-72 advantage with less than a minute to go.
  • In the end, Central Penn recorded an 83-74 overtime victory to advance to the USCAA Men's Division II title game.
 

 

BEHIND THE BOXSCORE

  • Central Penn's John Starks, Jr., led all scorers with 22 points, including a critical six points in the overtime period.  In addition, he was a perfect 8 for 8 from the charity stripe.
  • Also for the Knights, Dominique Twiggs put up a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds, including shooting 70% from the field.  Andre Batte added 16 points and 12 rebounds, including four 3-point baskets.
  • Nick Crawford led Johnson & Wales in scoring with 17, followed by Rickey Porter (15) and Joshua Cohen (14).  Michael Cuthbertson put up a double-double performance, recording 11 points and 11 boards.
  • There were a total of 4 ties and 3 lead changes in the overtime contest.
 

 

NEXT UP

#2 Central Penn advances to the Men's Division II national title game where they will face the winner of #1 Berkeley College NY/#4 Warren Wilson College Saturday at 3:15 in Main Arena.  Johnson & Wales ended their season with a 16-13 record.