BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Win and go home for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Quarterfinals. That was all Post University Men's Basketball had to do against the University of Bridgeport in Saturday afternoon's regular-season finale on the road. The Eagles would do just that behind a team-leading 18-point effort from senior forward Deng Deang as Post survived a second-half comeback attempt down the stretch by the Purple Knights to lock up the North Division's second seed in next week's conference tournament with a 73-62 victory.

The Eagles will take on Goldey-Beacom College as Chestnut Hill College locked up the second seed in the South Division with a win over Georgian Court University shortly after Post's win, knocking the Lightning down into the third seed for the tournament. Tip-off will take place at 6:00 PM in the Drubner Center on Tuesday night. 

THE BASICS

Post University 73, University of Bridgeport 62

Post University (16-12, 10-6 CACC)
 
University of Bridgeport (16-12, 10-6 CACC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Senior forward Deng Deang led all scorers with 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting at halftime as the Eagles took an eight-point lead, 31-23, into the break. But as a team, Post would shoot just 11-for-29 (37.9%) from the field and make only 1-of-6 (16.7%) of the threes they attempted. For Bridgeport, everybody got a little bit of action despite the team going 9-for-30 (30%) from the floor with 3-of-11 (27.3%) of their threes made. 

Junior guard Aliou Cisse led the Purple Knights with seven points on 2-for-4 shooting while snagging a team-high four rebounds. For the better part of the first 20 minutes, the two sides kept each other close as there were seven lead changes and four ties, culminating in a 21-21 tie with 5:44 left in the half before Post made their move to take control.

Graduate forward Harrison Warnock kicked things off with a layup, starting a 5-0 run for the Eagles which was stopped by sophomore forward Jayson Handy's jumper, making it 26-23 with 4:24 to go. Closing the half with the last five points, making it a 10-2 run overall, Deang's layup followed by three straight free throws gave Post that eight-point lead which they would seemingly not look back on throughout the second half. 

A three from Cisse brought Bridgeport back to within five points, but that would be the closest they would get the rest of the way. Graduate guard Tyler Small's responding jumper was the beginning of a 10-0 run by the Eagles that saw them go up by a game-high 15 points with 15:35 left in regulation. The lead would only continue to grow from there, peaking at 22 points with Post ahead 53-31 at the midway point of the second half. 

But what was once a comfortable lead for Post slowly started to dwindle over the final 10 minutes and the Purple Knights worked their way back into the affair with a mini-run that quickly chipped the lead back down to 16 points before Post answered back to make it a 20-point game with 4:39 left. However, once more Bridgeport made a push over the next two minutes as two threes from graduate guard Justin Hendrick between a layup from Cisse made it a 12-point game with still 2 1/2 minutes remaining. 

Still threatening, Cisse brought the Purple Knights to within eight points, 64-56, inside of a minute and a half to go before the Eagles were able to ice what would be an 11-point win, 73-62, from the free throw line down the stretch. By virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker, since Post swept Bridgeport in both of their matchups this season, they earned the second seed in the North Division heading into the CACC Tournament.

In addition to Deang's 18-point outing, Warnock finished with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting to go along with six rebounds while Small closed with 14 points on 3-for-8 shooting, doing most of his damage at the free-throw line with 7-of-10 makes there. As a team, the Post defense held Bridgeport to 29.2% shooting from the field at 21-for-72 while shooting 42.6% themselves with a 23-for-54 afternoon in the win. 

BY THE NUMBERS  

• Deng Deang led the way for Post University with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting while nearly finishing with a double-double after grabbing nine rebounds in the win
• Post University is now 13-1 this season when leading at halftime while holding a 3-9 record when trailing at halftime -- The Eagles are 1-1 when tied at halftime, having their overtime win against AIC on December 18th, 2024
• Cisse Aliou finished with a double-double for the University of Bridgeport after scoring 18 points on 5-for-12 shooting with 10 rebounds 
• Defeating the University of Bridgeport today, Post University has now won five straight games against the Purple Knights since the 2022-23 season and seven of the last nine overall to pull within one game of tying the all-time series which they trail 12-11 currently 

WHO'S NEXT
Post University heads into the CACC Tournament as the two seed in the CACC North Division, giving them a home game this Tuesday night in the Drubner Center at 6:00 PM against the South Division's three seed in Goldey-Beacom College. Against the Lightning, Post dropped their lone matchup of the season against them at home, 89-85, after a last-second score from Tre Powell lifted the Lightning to victory and snapped a four-game winning streak for the Eagles against them.