Dragons Vault Into CAA Championship Game With 68-51 Win Over Old Dominion

Sunday, March 4

Richmond Coliseum - Richmond, Va.

2:00 p.m.

Drexel University

Old Dominion

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Dragons Vault Into CAA Championship Game With 68-51 Win Over Old Dominion

3/4/2012 4:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Richmond, Va. – The Drexel Dragons (27-5) will make their first appearance in the CAA Tournament final since 2003 after soundly defeating Old Dominion (20-13) 68-51 in the tournament semifinals at the Richmond Coliseum. Franz Massenat led the Dragons, winners of 19 straight games, with 20 points and senior Samme Givens turned in a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double.

The Dragons stifling defense held Old Dominion to 33.3 percent shooting in the contest and bottled up All-CAA forward Kent Bazemore, who shot 6-for-20 from the floor, for much of the game.

Drexel jumped out to a 15-3 lead early and never looked back while quieting a Monarch-partisan crowd at the Richmond Coliseum. The Dragons shot 40 percent in the game, including a 48 percent in a 41-point second half.

Rookie Damion Lee put in 17 points and made three of his four three-point attempts. Givens led Drexel's domination of the paint with a game-high 12 rebounds and three blocks. Daryl McCoy added eight boards, including five on the offensive glass.

Bazemore and Chris Cooper led Old Dominon's offense with 12 points apiece. Cooper also chipped in 10 rebounds for the Monarchs.

In the second half, Drexel's post players asserted themselves on the blocks. McCoy muscled in a layup while drawing a foul and Givens followed two possessions later with a hook shot in the lane to help push Drexel's lead to 41-25 in the first five minutes. The pair also teamed up for a tip-in off a missed baseline jumper minutes later.

With the Monarchs preoccupied with stopping Drexel's forwards, Damion Lee found himself open for a baseline three-pointer as Givens backed down his defender. Lee's effort circled the hoop and dropped, giving Drexel a 46-30 lead at the 11-minute mark.

A put-back layup with under eight minutes to play resulted in a three-point play for the Monarchs to cut Drexel's lead to eight points.

Drexel's backcourt trio of Lee, Massenat and Fouch quickly responded for Drexel with buckets on three straight trips down the court, pushing the Dragons lead back to 12 points.

When Lee sliced through the left side of the Monarchs' defense for a layup and a foul, momentum shifted in favor of the Dragons. He converted the ensuing free throw to make it a 15-point game with just under seven minutes on the clock.

Fouch drained a three-pointer from the baseline with 3:22 in the game after Old Dominion had rallied to within 10 points. The Monarchs missed three consecutive put-back attempts on their next trip down the floor coming out of a timeout, essentially stalling their comeback effort.

Drexel held the Monarchs to just 26.8 percent shooting from the floor in the first half and held a 27-17 lead at the break. Fouch led the Dragons with nine points, on 3-for-9 shooting from deep, while Samme Givens pulled in a game-leading seven boards. The physical defensive play of Drexel's forwards limited Old Dominion's All-CAA big man Kent Bazemore to just two points on 1-for-6 shooting.

Drexel's defense held Old Dominion to just one field goal through the first 10 and a half minutes of play. On the other end of the court Fouch found his stroke from distance, draining three triples on his first six attempts to stake his team to an 15-3 lead at the midway mark in the period.

After missing a flurry of shots in the opening moments of the game, Drexel settled in to score the first nine points of the game while holding Old Dominion off the scoreboard for the first six minutes of pay.

The Monarchs used a 7-0 run to draw within five points with just under seven minutes on the clock, but Massenat countered for the Dragons with a pair of scoop layups on the left side of the lane to keep the lead at seven points.

The Dragons will face the winner of the second semifinal matchup between George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth in Monday's championship game at 7:00 p.m.