Feb. 12, 2009

Box Score

River Forest, IL - The Dominican University men's basketball team was officially eliminated from the hunt for the fourth and final spot out of the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) South Division for the NAC Tournament with a 59-42 loss at host Benedictine University on Wednesday night. The loss dropped the Stars to 5-9 in the conference and 9-13 overall, as the Stars are suffering through their first losing season since the 2004-2005 campaign.

The Eagles used a 6-0 run to jump out to a 21-15 lead as Dominican labored through a five-minute scoreless drought that was snapped by a pair of Dan Borys (Crown Point, IN) free throws with 5:28 remaining in the opening half. Benedictine continued to extend its first half lead, closing out the half on a 12-4 run capped by a Nate Green jumper at the buzzer, putting the Eagles ahead, 33-19.

The second half was much of the same for the Stars, trailing by as many as 28 points along the way. The Stars, shooting over 43 percent from the field on the season, managed to shoot just 34.1 percent from the field (15-44) and connected on just one of 12 attempts from three-point distance.

On the glass, the Stars were outrebounded 39-26, giving up 13 offensive rebounds to the Eagles which led to 19 second chance points for the Eagles compared to just three second chance points for the Stars on four offensive rebounds.

Borys paced the Stars offense with 13 points, despite 3-of-11 shooting from the field, in 39 minutes of work. The Stars' 6'4" senior forward took advantage of ten trips to the foul line, connecting on seven attempts from the charity stripe. Kyle Tipton, the Stars' second-leading scorer on the season, was held to just eight points on the night, while playing 25 minutes and battling through first-half foul trouble after picking up two fouls in nine minutes.

The Stars will travel to Aurora University on Saturday and then host MSOE next Tuesday and then close out the 2008-2009 season on Saturday, February 21 with the NAC Challenge Game.