Recap by Keith Burdette
No. 7 Central Connecticut State 76, No. 3 Fairleigh Dickinson 73 (OT)
With the Blue Devils trailing by three with seconds to go, Justin Chiera caught a pass from Ron Robinson then dribbled into the frontcourt to hit a three pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. CCSU built a five point lead in the overtime but Tamien Trent cut the lead to three with five seconds to go and missed a desperation chance to tie the game after the Blue Devils missed two free throws. The Knights led 34-29 at halftime and built their lead to twelve with just under fifteen minutes to go. The Blue Devils fought back to tie the game with four minutes to go and took a four point lead after Gordon Klaiber fouled out. But the Knights came back in the last minute and built a three point lead with three seconds to go to set up the final shot.
Ron Robinson again had another phenomenal game with 20 points and nine rebounds. Chiera scored 11 points including the game-tying trifecta. Tamien Trent led FDU with 22 points and Klaiber scored 18 points before his fifth foul. The Knights forced eighteen turnovers but committed fifteen of their own. The Blue Devils attempted 21 more free throws, including several in the second half to help complete their comeback.
No. 1 Monmouth Hawks 62, No. 4 Robert Morris Colonials 45
The Colonials used stifling defense to take a 22-20 lead into halftime. They held both of Monmouth’s big guns scoreless in the first half but couldn’t build a lead bigger than five. Early in the second half, Monmouth used a 22-6 run to take control of the game. Blake Hamilton scored six points and Dwayne Byfield scored eight points to spark the run. RMU cut the lead to nine once after that but could not get any closer.
Hamilton scored fourteen points, all in the second half and Byfield had ten points, also all exclusively in the second half. Chaz McCrommon led the Colonials with thirteen points but the other leading scorers, Aaron Thomas and Maurice Carter, each scored just six. The Colonials shot only 35 percent from the field, including 3-22 from long distance which sealed their fate.
