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Storm Upset by Crusaders in NEAC Tourney
February 27, 2009
Sophomore Diamond Booker had 16 points and nine rebounds in the Storm's loss.
The Keuka College men’s basketball team was given an early exit from the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Tournament as they were upset by the No. 7 seeded Crusaders of the University of Dallas by a score of 80-66 in its quarterfinal matchup on Friday. The game was played at SUNYIT.
The No. 2 seeded Storm struggled from behind the arc as the Crusaders had six players in double figures to dispose of the Storm. Keuka finishes its 2008-09 season with an 11-11 record while Dallas improves to 9-17 overall and will now square off against No. 3 Wells College this Saturday at 1 pm. Wells knocked off No. 6 SUNY Cobleskill 59-54 in there quarterfinal game.
Dallas used seven first half 3-pointers to jump out to a 41-29 halftime lead. Keuka shot 42% from the floor in the opening half while Dallas was slightly better at 43%. The Crusaders used strong free throw shooting in the second half to nix any comeback the Storm attempted. Dallas went 16-for-21 (76%) from the charity stripe while Keuka was just 5-for-14 (36%). Dallas also held a huge advantage from behind the arc shooting 56% to the Storm’s 29%.
Sophomore Diamond Booker (Bronx, N.Y./Frederick Douglas Acad.) finished with 16 points and missed a double-double by one rebound. The 6-7 center went 5-for-7 from the floor and 6-for-8 from the free throw line while blocking two shots. Senior Justin Stern (Dewitt, N.Y./Jamesville Dewitt) had a game-high 17 points as he shot 6-for-14 from the floor and 3-for-10 from behind the arc.
Junior point guard Alex Coleman (Elmira, N.Y./Southside) was the only other Storm player in double figures as he ended with 12 points. Senior Garret Herthum (Whitesboro, N.Y./Whitesboro) added a team-high five assists to go with his six boards and four points.
Dallas used a balanced scoring attack with six players scoring between 15 and 10 points. Peter Popovich led with 15 points while Jeff Pritchard added 10 points, six assists, and four steals.
