February 19, 2007

River Forest, Ill. - The Dominican University men's basketball team wrapped up the 2006-2007 regular season with a three-game winning streak last week to claim the three-seed in the inaugural Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) Tournament.

The Stars, 16-9 overall and 12-6 in the NAC, will host Benedictine University (12-13, 10-8), the tournament's six-seed, on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. at Dominican's Igini Sports Forum. The winner will advance to the conference semifinals and face Edgewood College, the second-seed in the conference tournament, on Friday, February 23, at 7:00 p.m. at Edgewood's Edgedome in Madison, WI.

In Dominican's final game of the regular season, the Stars fell behind 52-44 to Concordia University (WI) at the first half as the Falcons shot over 57% from the field and connected on 8 of 12 three-point field goal attempts.

The Stars clawed their way back over the first nine minutes of the second half before claiming the lead for good at 66-63 on a three-pointer by junior Jose Garcia (Kenosha, WI) with 10:35 remaining. Dominican held off the Falcons, escaping with a 94-90 win on the road.

Garcia led all scorers with a game-high 22 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the field, including going 5-for-11 from three. Garcia added four rebounds and two assists in 28 minutes of work.

Juniors Mike Haiduc (Chicago, IL) and Rashim Lettsome (Waukegan, IL) also scored in double-figures for the Stars. Haiduc, the Stars' leading scorer at 16.0 points per game, scored 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field and grabbed five rebounds while Lettsome scored 16 points, grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and tallied five assists.

The Stars' 16-9 regular season record represents their best regular season mark since the 1992-1993 season when they went 19-15.