Drexel University Athletics
Drexel University
Northeastern
Defense Leads the Dragons Past Northeastern, 64-50, and into the CAA Semifinals
3/3/2007 6:00:41 PM | Men's Basketball
Richmond, Va..—Frank Elegar (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond's) scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the first half as Drexel (23-7) opened CAA Tournament play with a 64-50 win against Northeastern in the Richmond Coliseum. Elegar was one of four Dragons in double figures. The Drexel defense continued to play well as it held the Huskies (13-19) to just 28 percent shooting in the first half. The Dragons advance to the CAA Semifinals, where they face CAA regular-season champion VCU at the Coliseum at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The Dragons led 20-9 early in the contest and held the lead the rest of the game. With under a minute to play in the half Northeastern cut the lead to 12 points at 30-18. However, in what could be described as the turning point in the game, the Dragons scored five points in the final four seconds of the half. Scott Rodgers (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) put back a miss by Randy Oveneke (Antwerpen, Belgium/Saint-Anna) with four seconds to play. On the ensuing in bounds pass, Dominick Mejia (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern) got his hand on the ball, picked up a steal and nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to put Drexel up, 35-18. The closest the Huskies could get was the final score of 64-50.
Elegar, who has now scored 10 or more points in 13-straight games. He finished 8-for-15 from the floor and also had three steals. Mejia scored 11 points for Drexel and had three three-pointers. Bashir Mason added 10 points, while Oveneke came off the bench to score 10 points. The junior was 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in 22 minutes of play. Northeastern shot just 34 percent in the game. Drexel held the Huskies to just 3-for-21 shooting from long range.
The Drexel-VCU game can be seen live on CN8. It can also be heard live on WNTP. The winner of the game will advance to the CAA Championship game, which will take place on Monday night at 7 p.m. The championship game can be seen on ESPN.
