Drexel's Upset Bid Against No. 4 Arizona Comes Up Just Short, 66-62

Wednesday, November 27

Madison Square Garden, N.Y., N.Y.

7:00

Drexel University

Arizona (#4)

Drexel

ARIZONA

Drexel's Upset Bid Against No. 4 Arizona Comes Up Just Short, 66-62

11/27/2013 8:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)

New York, N.Y.. – Drexel's upset bid against No. 4 Arizona came up just short as the Dragons fell to the Wildcats, 66-62, in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off in Madison Square Garden. The Dragons (3-2)had a 19-point lead in the first half, but the Wildcats' potent offense came up big in the second half. Chris Fouch, in his return to New York City, led the Dragons with 29 points. Arizona remained unbeaten in six games.

Arizona began the second half with a 13-2 run and took its first lead of the game when Brandon Ashley scored on a lay-up. The second half went back and forth until Arizona took the lead for good on a Kaleb Tarczewski dunk. That was followed by a Nick Johnson three-pointer with 6:47 left in the game to put the Wildcats up 49-45. The Dragons fought back and got the deficit down to four with :19 left when Tavon Allen converted a lay-up. However, Gabe York sank a pair of free throws to seal the game with just 14 seconds to play. The Wildcats went to the line 17 times in the second half and made 15 of their attempts.

During the second half, Drexel standout Damion Lee suffered a knee injury and was helped off the floor. He will be out for the consolation game and will be reevaluated by a doctor on Friday. The Dragons were already without Kazembe Abif who suffered a concussion in the Rutgers game. The junior was tied for the team lead with 8.8 rebounds per game.

Drexel opened the game with a 9-0 run. Damion Lee scored on a runner, Frantz Massenat nailed a three-pointer and Chris Fouch scored four points during the run. The Dragons led by as many as 19 points after Fouch bombed a three-pointer from the left wing with 6:59 to play in the half. Arizona answered with an 11-0 run as Drexel went without a field goal for a stretch of five and a half minutes. The teams went to the break with Drexel leading, 29-20. The Dragons shot just 36 percent in the half, but held the Wildcats to just 26 percent from the floor in the first half. Arizona committed 10 turnovers which led to eight points for Bruiser Flint's team.

Fouch had 16 of his 29 points in the first half. He finished the game 11-for-27 from the floor and had three three-pointers. He moved into 15^th place on Drexel's career scoring list with 1,292 points, passing both Randy Burkert and Frank Elegar.

Frantz Massenat added 17 points for the Dragons and played 35 minutes without committing a turnover. He was 2-for-5 from deep. Freshman Rodney Williams, who started in place of Abif, had career-highs with 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.

The Dragons defense held the Wildcats to just 37 percent shooting overall. Arizona came into the game shooting 54 percent and averaging 84 points per game. Drexel also committed just five turnovers in the game. Nick Johnson led four Wildcats in double figures with 20 points. Tarczewski added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Arizona ended the game 23-for-30 from the charity stripe, while the Dragons had just seven free throw attempts, with two of those coming on a technical foul on Tarczewski for hanging on the rim.

The Dragons play one more game in New York before heading back to Philadelphia. Drexel will face either Duke or Alabama on Friday afternoon in Madison Square Garden at 3:30 p.m.