Griffins Hand Devils Their Third Straight Loss

The University of the Sciences men's basketball team placed three players in double figured but fell short in their comeback attempt as Chestnut Hill College handed the Devils their third straight loss, 66-59 Tuesday night at the Sorgenti Arena in Philadelphia. 

The loss evens the Devils record at 8-8 overall and drops them to 4-6 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference games.  The Griffins improve to 8-10 overall and 5-5 in league play. 

Tyrone Mann-Barnes (Collingswood HS/Woodlynne, N.J.) led the Devils with 20 points (7-18 FG, 5-10 3FG) while Myer Messinger (Dallas Area HS/Trucksville, Pa.) and Adewale Adefemi (Winslow Township HS/Chesilhurst, N.J.) each recorded a double-double on the night.   Messinger finished with 18 points (8-13 FG) and 11 rebounds while Adefemi had 11 points (5-10 FG) and 11 rebounds.  Will Kernan (The Lawrenceville School/Medford, N.J.) had six assists. 

Brandon Williams led the Griffins with 16 points while Mark DiRugeris added 14 and a team-high four assists.  Dan Comas grabbed 11 rebounds and had three blocks to pace CHC. 

The Devils scored the first three points of the game before the Griffins caught fire, going on a 17-3 tear to take a 17-6 lead with 8:35 left. A basket from Messinger and a trey from Mann-Barnes cut the deficit to six, but the Griffins opened up a double digit advantage again with a 12-4 spurt to take a 29-15 lead with 3:07 left.  A 7-2 run from the Devils to close out the half made the deficit more manageable at the break, 31-22. 

Chestnut Hill's lead was still nine 36-27 at the 14:55 mark when the Griffin's went on another tear, outscoring the Devils 14-6 over the next 4:29 to take a 50-33 lead midway through the final period.   Two free throws from Comas later boosted the lead to its widest margin, 18, 54-36 with 7:44 left.   Sciences then ran off ten straight points  starting with a pair of free throws and a layup from Kernan and ending with two straight triples from Mann-Barnes, making the score 54-46 with 4:51 left.  The lead oscillated between seven and ten over the next three minutes as the both teams were exchanging baskets and/or free throws.  Mann-Barnes' fifth three-pointer of the game closed the gap to five, 60-55 with just 62 ticks remaining.  This was as close as the Devils would get as the Griffins connected on all six of their free throw attempts in the final 55 seconds to seal the seven-point win 66-59. 

The Devils outshot (38.3%-33.9%) and outrebounded (45-42) the Griffins but that was offset by a strong effort from the hosts at the free throw line with CHC making 18 of 24 (75%) shots and the Devils making just eight of 17 (47.1%).  Sciences also committed five more turnovers 17-12 with the Griffins taking full advantage of the Devils miscues, outscoring Sciences 26-9 in the points off turnovers category. 

The men's basketball team returns to action on Thursday, February 3, 2011 when the host Goldey-Beacom College in a pivotal CACC southern division contest.  Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m.