WATERBURY, Conn. – Winners in four of their final five regular season games, Post University Men's Basketball is looking to go into the CACC Tournament and continue their winning ways. With an 86-81 win over the University of Bridgeport today and a win by Bloomfield College over Caldwell University shortly after that, the Eagles secured the two seed in the CACC Tournament starting next week on Tuesday.
Just after the buzzer sounded on Post, Wilmington University earned the South Division's three seed in overtime against Goldey-Beacom College, meaning they will come to the Drubner Center at 5:30 PM on Tuesday night to face the Eagles.
THE BASICS
Post University 86, University of Bridgeport 81
Post University (19-8, 10-6 CACC)
University of Bridgeport (11-17, 5-11 CACC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Just before the midway point of the first half, the Eagles opened up an 11-point lead, 25-14, which would ultimately be their largest lead for the rest of the contest. The Purple Knights would slowly chip away at their deficit over the next four minutes and change to regain the lead, 33-31, on a three by junior guard Caleb Jacobs which came after a turnover by junior forward
Deng Deang. Turnovers were a key factor in the contest as Post had 12 turnovers which led to a whopping 20 points on offense for Bridgeport compared to just five points on five turnovers for the Eagles.
Despite shooting 54.3% from the field (19-of-35) and making 3-of-10 threes (30%), Post found themselves trailing at the halftime break, 46-44, after junior point guard
Bol Akot rushed his shot with nine seconds left. Akot's shot was corralled by junior guard Nick Traill who went the other way and found senior guard Jayden Iturmendi for the layup that sent the Purple Knights into the locker room up by two, 46-44. As a team, Bridgeport had a strong first-half shooting as well, going 18-for-36 (50%) overall, 4-for-9 (44.4%) from three, and outshooting Post from the free throw line making 6-of-8 compared to 3-of-7 for the Eagles.
All nine Post players who saw the floor in the first half notched points while all 10 of Bridgeport's players did the same. Deang was the point leader for the Eagles with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting while graduate forward Sam DeSouza and senior guard D'Andre Collins each had 10 points for the Purple Knights.
Hot shooting to start the second half paced Bridgeport to a six-point lead just under two and a half minutes into the frame after Traill and senior guard Tim Dawson got the Purple Knights on an early 7-3 run which gave them their largest lead of the game. Still leading by four with 12:40 left in regulation, 60-56, that would be when the Eagles made their move and flipped the script on the affair.
A 9-0 run featuring four different scorers for Post put them ahead by five points, 65-60, and they would never relinquish the lead again. Leading by nine points for a good portion of the final 10:27 of the game, the Purple Knights had one more burst of energy in them to try and steal the win from the Eagles. Senior guard D'Andre Collins hit a three with 1:21 left to make it a four-point game and then Iturmendi forced a turnover to give Bridgeport a chance to cut their deficit to one possession with a basket.
But a turnover by sophomore guard Malikai Delgado and then a missed free throw later on by Iturmendi on the one-and-one with 27 seconds remaining would put the dagger in the game. Deang would end up at the line for a pair of free throws which he would make and the Eagles would hit two of their final three shots from the stripe to secure the two seed with an 86-81 win.
BY THE NUMBERS