Men’s Hoops: St. Mike’s Suffers 91-86 Setback to Regionally-Ranked Dominican

Courtesy St. Michael’s Sports Information

COLCHESTER – The Saint Michael’s College men’s basketball team’s late comeback bid fell short in a 91-86 loss to regionally-ranked Dominican (N.Y.) College on Saturday in the Ross Sports Center. The Chargers were ninth in this week’s D2SIDA East Region Media Poll.

RECORDS
· Saint Michael’s (3-7), Dominican (6-2)

SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS
· Senior Derek Cheatom (Buffalo, N.Y./The Park School of Buffalo), 31 points (career high), 11 rebounds (tied career high), 3 assists, 2 steals, 6-for-7 three-pointers
· Senior Winston Jones II (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream Central), 17 points, 8-for-9 free throws
· Sophomore Walker Storey (Shelburne, Vt./Champlain Valley Union), 15 points (career high), 5-for-7 three-pointers
· Senior Levi Holmes III (East Brunswick, N.J./Rutgers Prep), 13 points, 6 rebounds
· Junior Eli DiGrande (Essex Junction, Vt./Essex), 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks
· Junior Jordan Guzman (Staten Island, N.Y./Xaverian), 6 assists, 2 blocks
· First-year Jontai Williams (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes), 4 assists

OPPONENT LEADERS
· Junior Tavon Ginyard, 26 points, 4 steals, 6-of-7 three-pointers off bench
· Junior Daniel Grant, 16 points, 4 assists, 3 steals
· Junior Daraja Rodwell, 16 points, 3 assists, 3 steals
· Junior Jason Copman, 11 points, 7 rebounds

GAME FACTS
· Saint Michael’s played its first home game since Dec. 4, and the first of two home games in four days.
· This was the fifth game in a challenging eight-game run for the Purple Knights that included three opponents that qualified for the 2018 NCAA Tournaments, while five were ranked in the D2SIDA East Region Media Poll either this week or when Saint Michael’s played them.
· Dominican is the two-time defending Central Athletic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament runner-up, including losing last year’s final by one point.
· Saint Michael’s shot 13-for-25 from three-point range (52.0%), while Dominican held a decisive advantage on free throws, going 27-for-35 to the hosts’ 17-for-19 performance.
· Holmes pushed his career point total to 1,455, passing Brian Monahan ’08 (1,451) and Steve Bourke ’83 (1,452) to take over 14th in program history.
· Cheatom registered his second 30-point game of the year and became the 24th player in program history with 100 career threes (103) during the game.
· Ginyard was 6-for-7 from three-point range, while the rest of the Dominican team finished 0-for-9.

THE ACTION
· Cheatom’s fourth three-pointer of the game – and his team’s fifth – gave Saint Michael’s a 17-5 cushion just five minutes into the contest.
· Dominican rallied within five points twice, including at 28-23, but the Purple Knights responded with the next nine points, with Cheatom netting five before Holmes’ two free throws with 3:57 left in the first half created a game-best 14-point advantage (37-23).
· A 13-3 run brought the Chargers within 40-36 in the final minute, but Cheatom’s two ensuing free throws kept the hosts up six at halftime.
· Holmes’ jumper pushed the lead to 47-38 at 18:04 of the second period before Dominican scored the next 15 points, with five players putting in baskets.
· The visitors took a 71-58 advantage – their largest of the contest – on sophomore Donnell Hill’s lay-in at 8:14, capping what became a 48-21 stretch.
· Saint Michael’s scored the next nine points to draw within four for the first of three times in a matter of 1:24, but Ginyard’s triple pushed the lead back to 80-71 with 3:13 left.
· Holmes’ jumper at 44.4 seconds rattled around the rim before dropping to cap an 11-4 run during which he, Cheatom and Jones did all the scoring, making it 84-82.
· Grant countered with a three-point play before Holmes put down a dunk, and Grant’s follow-up freebie pushed the lead to 88-84 at 26.1 seconds. Holmes rebounded the miss of the second try before Saint Michael’s committed a turnover and two fouls, leading to three free throws at 17.7 ticks that iced the win.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S GAME
· Tuesday vs. Post University, 3 p.m.