Drexel University Athletics
Drexel University
Rider
Big Second Half Lifts Drexel Over Rider
11/21/2005 12:00:00 AM
Dominick Mejia tied Rider's Lamar Johnson to lead all scorers with 19 points. Sophomore Frank Elegar chipped in a dozen second-half points and Mason dished out seven assists with only one turnover. Chaz Crawford regained the blocking touch that placed him among the best in the nation in swats last season, putting the lid on six would-be buckets, which was his season high. Drexel's lone senior Kenell Sanchez chipped in a dozen points, including 11 in the first half, and led the team with seven rebounds, and three steals to go along with five assists.
After falling behind by six points in the opening minutes the Dragons relied on their perimeter shooting to keep them in the game, scoring 21 of their 29 points in denominations of three. Drexel's trio of post players combined to go 0-for-6 in the first period. But a 7-for-13 shooting performance by Drexel from three-point land and a dozen Rider turnovers kept the score knotted at 29 apiece at intermission.
In the second period Drexel tried to get the ball into the post more. Frank Elegar stepped up to score 12 points in the stanza. His spinning dunk at the 8:06 mark punctuated an 18-5 Drexel run that gave the team a 52-41 lead. Rider cut the Drexel advantage to six points after capitalizing on a pair of turnovers. But Mejia drained a deep three-pointer and stole an inbound pass minutes later, converting a layup to put Drexel back in the driver's seat 61-48 with 3:21 in the game.
Rider continued to turn the ball over with regularity in the second half, matching its dozen first-period giveaways with another 12 in the second stanza. Drexel's transition defense took advantage, swiping six steals as the Dragons built a 13-point lead. The Dragons turned the ball over just 12 times to Rider's 24. But the Broncs outboarded Drexel 30 to 27 and outshot the Dragons 47 percent to 37 percent in field goals.
The Broncs stayed within striking distance at the end of the game thanks to the hot hands of Johnson and Kamron Warner, but the Dragons missed just two free-throws in the game, going 21-for-23 from the charity stripe, and shot 14-for-15 from the line down the stretch to close out the game. Elegar's dunk with 28 seconds remaining finished the Broncs with authority.
The victory is Drexel's third consecutive win, which marks the Dragons' best start since the 1997-98 when the team also went 3-0. No Drexel team has gotten off to a better start since the 1987-88 season when the Dragons came out of the gate 4-0.
Drexel travels to Madison Square Garden to take on the top-ranked Duke Blue Devils in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 7:00 p.m.
