Madison, N.J. – Paced by 23 points and five rebounds from Dom Scafidi, the Rosemont Ravens men's basketball team defeated the Eagles of St. Joseph's (L.I.) tonight by a final score of 63-61 to win the championship of the Rose City Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Drew University. It was the second straight two-point win for the Ravens to open up their season as they move to 2-0 overall. The Eagles fell to 1-1 with the defeat.
For the second straight day, the Ravens were in a close tussle with an opponent, but came out on top in a close finish. Ahead 15-9 after a Keith Fletcher layup, the Eagles went on a 7-0 run to wrest back the lead 16-15 from Rosemont with 10:26 left in the period. St. Joseph's would go on to out-score Rosemont 12-6 to go ahead 28-21 with 4:16 left in the half before the Ravens snapped back with a 9-0 run to take back the lead, 30-28 with 1:16 left in the first half. Rosemont went into the locker room aheads 32-31.
A bucket from Scafidi and a trey from Kyle Lafferty opened up the lead to six points for the Ravens, 37-31. Rosemont opened up a 10-point lead with 14:43 left, and after the teams traded three pointers, still led by 10, 49-39 with 13:35 left in the game. St. Joseph's chipped away at the lead over the next 9+ miutes, however, and outscored Rosemont 22-11 to grab a 60-59 lead with 4:19 left in the contest.
Nadir Stukes hit a jumper to put the Ravens back in front, 61-60, but the Eagles tied the score just seconds later. Down the stretch, Stukes hit two key shots from the charity stripe to re-take a two-point lead with 3:19 left, but with 2:02 left, the Eagles hit a bucket to again tie the score. Scafidi grabbed an offensive board off of a missed free throw, and was fouled on his shooting attempt. He made one to put Rosemont back up 64-63 with 1:23 left. On St. Joseph's trip down the court, the Eagles missed from outside the arc and Lafferty grabbed a key defensive rebound. He was fouled and made one shot from the line to make the score 64-63 in favor of Rosemont with 48 seconds left.
The Eagles still had a chance to tie, but the Ravens turned back two shots from St. Joseph's as the clock wound down and the buzzer sounded with Rosemont celebrating the victory.
This was the third time in the six years of the program that the team has started their season with a 2-0 record (2012-2013 and 2009-2010).
Dom Scafidi earned the MVP award for the Tournament while teammate Nadir Stukes was named to the All-Tournament team.
The Ravens open their home schedule on Wednesday in a doubleheader against the Eastern University Eagles. The men's game is estimated for an 8:00pm tip-off.
