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2006 NEC Men’s Basketball Tournament
(all games played at home of higher seed)
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Top-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson and third-seeded Monmouth were both victorious on Sunday afternoon and will advance to the NEC Championship Game which will be seen live on ESPN2 on Wednesday, March 8 at 7:30 pm. The Knights, led by Chad Timberlakes' 20 points and 11 rebounds, held off the fifth-seeded Robert Morris Colonials, 71-55, at the Rothman Center. Monmouth hit the road on Sunday, knocking off second-seeded Central Connecticut State, 62-48, on the Blue Devils' home floor. Senior Chris Kenney scored 19 points, while junior John Bunch added 10 points, eight rebounds and five blocks to lead Monmouth. Wednesday's all-New Jersey matchup, allows FDU to host consecutive title games and for Monmouth to advance to its third in six seasons.
Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 2
#1 Fairleigh Dickinson def. #8 Quinnipiac, 66-65
#2 Cent. Conn. St. def. #7 Sacred Heart, 86-68
#3 Monmouth def. #6 Long Island, 74-63
#5 Robert Morris def. #4 Mount St. Mary's, 67-66
Semifinals^
Sunday, March 5
#3 Monmouth def. #2 Cent. Conn. St., 62-48
#1 Fairleigh Dickinson def. #5 Robert Morris, 71-55
Championship
Wednesday, March 8
#3 Monmouth at #1 Fairleigh Dickinson
7:30 pm on ESPN2
NEC Men’s Basketball Tournament
Semifinal Recaps/Boxscores
#3 Monmouth 62, #2 Central Connecticut State 48
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New Britain, CT -- Senior Chris Kenney scored 19 points, while junior John Bunch added 10 points, eight rebounds and five blocks to lead Monmouth past Central Connecticut, 62-48, in Northeast Conference Tournament semifinal action. The Hawks, who improve to 17-14 overall, will move on to the championship game, which will be televised on espn2 Wednesday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. CCSU, meanwhile, ends its season with an 18-11 record. Sophomore Tristan Blackwood and senior Lenny Jefferson led the Blue Devils with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Facing a 27-21 deficit coming into the second half, Central drew to within one point (35-34) 6:30 into the period. However, the Hawks countered with a 12-2 run to grab their largest lead to that point in the contest. An Obie Nwadike layup made it a 52-45 game with 1:41 left, but Monmouth went 10-for-10 from the free throw line to seal the victory.
Monmouth, which never trailed, opened the game with a 10-0 run and fought off several Blue Devil rallies to keep its six-point lead at halftime. Central trailed by just five points at the 4:17 mark, but Dejan Delic hit his second triple of the opening 20 minutes to stretch the Hawk lead back to nine points (27-18). A Blackwood three-pointer ended the half's scoring with 1:05 on the clock.
Central missed its first nine shots during the Hawks' 10-0 spurt to start the game and finished the half shooting just 23.5 percent from the floor. CCSU hoisted 34 shots, making just 8, and went just 2-for-6 from the free throw line. The Hawks, meanwhile, made 10-of-21 (.476) attempts from the floor, including 4-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Heading to the locker rooms, Blackwood led all scorers with 10 points on 4-for-15 shooting, while Delic, a junior, led Monmouth with eight points.
The Blue Devils stayed within seven points to start the second half, and Jefferson made it a one point contest with a three-pointer with 13:30 to play in the game. The triple capped a 7-1 Central run. Monmouth, however, stretched its lead to 11 points following a Bunch dunk less than six minutes later. The two squads traded layups before a Justin Chiera three-pointer brought the Blue Devils to within seven points (50-43) for the first time over the waning minutes.
Central Connecticut held the Hawks without a field goal over the final 7:44, but Monmouth triggered 13-of-15 free throws during that same time frame. Kenney led the barrage from the free throw line, going 8-for-8, while Bunch started the 10-for-10 run to end the game with a pair following Nwadike's layup.
Overall, the Blue Devils finished 19-for-72 (.264) from the field and 6-for-29 (.207) on three-point attempts. Monmouth, on the other hand, shot 45 percent (18-for-40) from the floor and 37.5 percent (6-for-16) from beyond the arc.
CCSU, which had 21 offensive rebounds, held a slight overall rebounding advantage, grabbing 40 boards to Monmouth's 38.
Nwadike, a junior, led all players with 14 caroms.
Delic finished with 12 points for the Hawks, who will face the winner of this afternoon's 4 p.m. match-up between Robert Morris at Fairleigh Dickinson. The NEC Tournament championship game will be aired on espn2 at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8.
#1 Fairleigh Dickinson 71, #5 Robert Morris 55
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Hackensack, NJ - Led by junior center Andrea Crosariol (Abano T., Italy) and senior guard Chad Timberlake (Brooklyn, NY) the top-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson University men's basketball team defeated #5 Robert Morris, 71-55, in an NEC semifinal game at the Rothman Center on Sunday afternoon. The victory advances the Knights to Wednesday night's conference championship game versus Monmouth University.
Crosariol and Timberlake each registered double-doubles as Crosariol recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds and Timberlake added 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead all scorers. Crosariol shot 6-of-10 from the field and had a game-high six blocks. Senior forward Gordon Klaiber (Greenbelt, MD) and junior forward Michael Peeples (Detroit, MI) each had 14 points.
The Knights charged out on fire to start the game, holding the lead for the first 27 minutes and 32 seconds of the game and showing off with a 17-3 run as they held the Colonials to one field goal in the first seven minutes. The run was powered by Crosariol (7 points) and Peeples (5 points).
The Knights extended their lead, 24-8, capped by seven-straight points, with Timberlake providing five of the seven. Sophomore guard Bernell Murray (Stillwater, OK) found Timberlake in the corner for a three and Crosariol worked down low to put in the next two.
The Colonials cut it down to four, 28-24, on a 16-4 run that finished on a three-pointer from Jeremy Chappell with 4:21 remaining in the half.
Murray drained a three-pointer with 11 seconds on the clock to give the Knights an eight-point lead, but with three seconds to go, A.J. Jackson connected on three to send the Knights into the locker room with a five-point lead, 34-29.
Crosariol and Timberlake each had 11 points and six rebounds in the first half to lead the Knights.
The Knights took an eight-point lead to start the second stanza, but an ensuing 12-0 run by the Colonials gave the visitors a 49-45 edge. The run began as a result of a Derek Coleman steal that Tony Lee dished out to Colson Senat for a layup to put the Colonials down only one, 45-44. On the next possession, Senat stole the ball, which Chappell converted on a layup, 45-44, to give the Colonials their first lead of the game. A three-pointer from Chappell with 11:48 on the clock capped RMU's 12-0 run.
But the Knights responded well, going on a 12-0 run of their own. FDU was sparked by switching into a full court pressure defense to change the pace of the game, as well as solid free throw shooting, going a perfect 8-for-8 from the line in the second half.
Timberlake netted a pair of free throws to cut the Colonials' lead to 49-47 and Peeples followed suit, netting both of his free throws to tie up the game 49-49. The run was capped with Murray's fast break feed to Peeples for an emphatic dunk that charged the crowd and was followed by Crosariol converting a three-point play to make it 61-49 with five minutes to play.
A trey from Cori Boston chipped the Knights' lead back to single-digits, 61-52, but the Knights scored the next 10 points, including four each from Timberlake and Klaiber.
Fairleigh Dickinson out-rebounded the Colonials, 41-33. Robert Morris was led by Chappell, who had 14 points and Jackson's 12 points and eight rebounds.
The win tonight gives the Knights their 20th win of 2005-06 as they improve to 20-10. This is their eighth 20-win season and seventh under Head Coach Tom Green. It also marks the program's second consecutive 20-win season as the finish last year's campaign with a 20-13 en route to the NCAA Tournament. The Colonials finish the season 15-14.
Fairleigh Dickinson will host Monmouth in the NEC Championship game on Wednesday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPN2 and webcast on www.wfdu.fm.