WATERBURY, Conn. – Every game down the stretch of the season is a must-win for Post University Men's Basketball with the logjam that is the CACC North Division seeing three teams entering the day with five losses and another two with six losses. When they have needed to most, the Eagles have taken care of business and did so again today against Felician University at home, getting a dominant 90-59 victory in the Drubner Center to move to 9-5 in conference play. The win also marked Head Coach Marc Kuntz's 100th win as the leader of the men's program that he took over seven seasons ago.
With Caldwell University falling to Dominican (N.Y.) shortly after that, Post and Bloomfield College are now tied atop the North Division with identical 9-5 records and a split season series while Caldwell and Dominican each have six losses and Felician sits in fifth with seven losses.
THE BASICS
Post University 90, Felician University 59
Post University (18-7, 9-5 CACC)
Felician University (12-14, 8-7 CACC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
A face-paced first half of play saw both teams applying full-court pressure on the inbounds, leading to 10 turnovers for the Golden Falcons which resulted in 11 points for the Eagles. Post fared better at breaking the press with just three turnovers, but those three turnovers would lead to six points for Felician as both North Division squads battled back and forth in the contest.
Although the Post led for the last 10 minutes and change of the first half, the Golden Falcons would not go away throughout the entirety of that time. Both sides finished shooting above 40% from the field and from three-point range as freshman point guard Ta'Quan Williams led the Eagles with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting with 3-of-4 threes made. Graduate guard Jayden Colon was pacing Felician with 10 first-half points on 4-of-5 shooting as the Golden Falcons had seven different players record a basket.
Felician's last lead would come with 11:46 left in the first half to make it a 15-12 game after having their biggest lead of five points just before that. Flipping the score would be Post who led by as many as nine points, 34-25, with 3:24 left before the Golden Falcons got themselves back into the affair with an 8-0 run which featured four points for Colon. In the final minute, junior guard Quest Harris would hit a pair of shots to end the half for Post on a 4-0 run as they took a 38-33 lead into the half.
For the first six minutes and change of the second half, the Golden Falcons would cut down their deficit to just one with 13:25 remaining after a 4-0 run which was capped off by freshman guard Jabri Fitzpatrick. But the rest of the game would be owned by the Eagles who embarked on a backbreaking 21-0 run over the next six minutes, forcing two Golden Falcon timeouts that could not help them overcome the offensive firepower that Post had unleashed.
Now with a 22-point lead, 67-45, with 8:20 remaining in regulation, it was all elementary for the Eagles who continued to expand their lead down the stretch to a game-high 31 points with the second basket of the season by junior shooting guard Rico Powell from long-range to cap off a dominant 90-59 win for Post.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Head Coach Marc Kuntz picks up his 100th win in seven seasons at the helm of the program after coaching 194 games
- Robert Sanders led Post University with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting while going 4-of-6 from three and grabbing a team-high seven rebounds
- Post University improves their record to 12-1 this season when leading at halftime
- Six players finished in double figures today for Post University with Robert Sanders (16 points), Ta'Quan Williams (14 points), Harrison Warnock (13 points), Tre Duncan (11 points), Quest Harris (10 points)
- Post University has now won four of their last five games overall and eight of their last nine games in the head-to-head matchup against Felician University
WHO'S NEXT
Post University has just two big North Division games remaining in their regular season schedule with the first coming against Caldwell University on the road at 7:30 PM on Wednesday night. When the two teams met at the Drubner Center back in January, it was the Cougars coming out on top by double digits, 92-80, behind 26 points from Darnell Evans.
