Dowling Snaps Men's Basketball's 12-Game Win Streak With 76-72 Win In Hubbell Gym

Bridgeport, Conn.-Junior Justin Alexander broke a 72-72 tie with two free throws with 18.8 seconds to play and then iced the game with two more free throws with 3.5 seconds to go, as the Dowling College Golden Lions men's basketball team snapped the University of Bridgeport's 12-game winning streak with a 76-72 win in UB's Hubbell Gym on Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale for both teams.  Dowling heads into next week's East Coast Conference Championship Tournament as the number six with an 11-15 overall record and an 8-10 conference mark.  Bridgeport wrapped up the ECC regular season crown with a win on Wednesday night, and the Purple Knights will head into the conference semifinals on Thursday night as the number one  at 19-9 overall and 15-3 in conference action.

In the first half, UB trailed by as many as 11 points, 18-7, with 12:44 to go, before coming back to grab a 36-33 halftime advantage.

In the second half, Dowling rallied to take a nine-point, 68-59, lead with 4:29 to play, and the Golden Lions led 72-64 with 3:11 to play, but Bridgeport stormed back with an 8-0 run to tie things up at 72-72 with 42 second to go on a layup by junior Ivan Simic (Belgrade, Serbia).  Simic was fouled on the play but missed the potential go-ahead free throw setting up Alexander's heroics from the stripe to win the game for Dowling.

Free throws were a problem for the Purple Knights on the day, as Bridgeport went 9 of 21 from the foul line (42.9%) including hitting only 2 of 13 from the line in the second half.  Dowling finished the game going 20 of 28 from the foul line.

Bridgeport senior Darian David (Bronx, N.Y.) led all scorers in the game with 26 points, and he also had seven rebounds and four assists.  David was joined in double figures by classmates Dion Waiters (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 12 points and Lloyd Antoine (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 10 points.  Waiters notched a double-double adding 10 steals to go with his 12 points, plus he dished out five assist.  Antoine also had a double-double grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with his 10 points, and he also added four blocked shots.

Evan Maxwell led four Dowling players in double-digit scoring with 23 points.

The UB men return to the court on Thursday, March 7 when they host an East Coast Conference Tournament semifinal at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of Tuesday night's number five seed Queens at number four seed Molloy tilt.