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RADNOR, Pa. – Freshman point guard Cory Lemons sunk a 15-foot jump-shot as the buzzer sounded to hand the 22nd-ranked Cabrini men’s basketball team a 79-77 win versus Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) opponent Centenary College Thursday night at Nerney Field House. The Cavaliers finish their 2009-10 regular season home schedule with a perfect 11-0 record.
All tied at 77-77, Cabrini called a timeout with 26 seconds remaining. Out of the break, Lemons took the inbound pass and held possession until the final second. With five seconds on the clock and ticking, he attacked the basket down the right side before pulling up and draining the game-winner.
Lemons finished with a team-high 18 points on 8-for-15 shooting. He paired nine rebounds with five assists.
Junior forward Dom Farrello shot 6-for-12 from the field overall, mixing 14 points with eight boards. Sophomore Dan Robinson tallied 13 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes played off the Cavaliers’ bench.
Robinson, a mid-season transfer from Division II East Stroudsburg University, is averaging 16.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in his last two outings. He netted a career-high 19 points versus Gwynedd-Mercy College Feb. 15.
Senior forward Chris Blake paired 12 points with six boards in his second start of the season. Blake shot a perfect 8-for-8 from the foul line and the Cavaliers converted 14-of-16 free throw attempts as a team for the game.
Cabrini led the contest throughout, boasting a game-high 16-point advantage, 36-20, with 4:12 remaining in the first half. The Cavaliers owned a 12-point cushion, 42-30, at the break.
However, Centenary opened the second period on a 7-2 run, trimming its deficit to seven points, 44-37, at the 17:48 mark. The Cyclones trailed 50-46 with 14:56 remaining.
The Cavaliers answered and pushed their lead back to 12 points, 64-52, at the 11:19 mark. Freshman point guard A.J. Williams sparked the Blue & White offense in the second half, scoring all of his nine points after the intermission. Williams shot 3-for-4 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Centenary took the Cabrini’s counter and threw its own punch behind senior guard Ryan Kearney and junior guard Will Atkinson. Kearney, the CSAC’s second-ranked scorer (18.1 ppg), tallied a game-high 31 points. Atkinson scored 14 points, including 11 in the second half and nine during a two minute spurt.
Atkinson’s third 3-point field goal of the closing 20 minutes supplied the Cyclones a 71-69 advantage with 4:11 remaining. Kearney knocked down two free throws at the 1:50 mark, sustaining the Centenary two-point edge, 77-75.
Senior forward Kevin Misevicius shot just 3-for-16 from the field and matched a season-low with six points, but his second and third field goals of the game were crucial. A tip-in from Misevicius with 3:19 on the clock tied the score at 71-71 before his fall-away jump-shot with 52 seconds remaining knotted the contest at 77-77 and set the stage for Lemons’ heroics.
Prior to the game’s opening whistle, Misevicius, Blake and senior combo guard Corey White were honored for their hard work and dedication as members of the Blue & White. White missed his second straight game due to injury.
The victory clinches the Cavaliers’ third six-game win streak of the season. The Blue & White has won 16 of its last 17 dating back to Dec. 18 against Haverford College. The Cavaliers have won 22 games overall in a single season for the 10th time in program history and the second straight under second-year head coach Marcus Kahn.
Cabrini is ranked No. 22 in this week’s D3Hoops.com Top 25, released Monday. The Cavaliers cracked the poll last week at No. 24, the program’s first national listing since the 2001-02 season.
The Blue & White owns the No. 1 seed in the CSAC Tournament and will host each game throughout for the first time since the 2000 postseason.
Cabrini (22-2, 16-1) concludes its regular season schedule Saturday, Feb. 20 at Neumann University. Game time is set for approximately 3 p.m.