The Rosemont men's basketball team (11-11, 9-6 CSAC) fashioned a furious second-half comeback tonight, taking a late three-point lead after trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half. With Rosemont ahead 63-62, the final possession by the home Centenary Cyclones (11-10, 8-6 CSAC) resulted in a short baseline jumper converted by Centenary's Djovan Beausejour to give Centenary the one point lead with little time left on the clock and Centenary would hold on to defeat Rosemont by a final score of 64-63.
The Ravens hung with the Cyclones through the entire first half, and although there were a couple of ties, Rosemont was never able to take a lead. With the score tied 2-2 early, Centenary outscored the Ravens 10-2 to grab an eight-point lead with 15:15 on the clock. Over the next three minutes Rosemont would scratch back with a 10-2 run of their own to knot the game at 14-14 with 11:12 left in the half. The teams traded points and with the score still tied 18-18 with 9:23 left in the first, the Cyclones put together another good stretch, outscoring Rosemont 10-2 to take a 28-20 lead with 5:54 left in the half. A timely three from Marcus Thomas and a couple of free throws from Jeff Padilioni would move Rosemont back to within three, trailing 28-25 with 3:49 left in the period. Another three-pointer from Thomas would be all that the Ravens could manage down the stretch as Centenary ran out the half with an 8-3 advantage to take a 36-28 lead into the half.
In the second half the Ravens would fall behind by a score of 56-42, their largest deficit, with 9:25 left on the clock. The Rosemont comeback would begin from that point. Two free throws from Dyshon Pack with just under six minutes left would pullthe Ravens back to within only five points, trailing 57-52. Trailing 59-52, Marcus Thomas hit from downtown to put a dent in the deficit as Rosemont would pull to within four points, 59-55 with 4:23 left.
Trailing 60-57, Dom Scafidi would drain a three-ball with 2:04 left to knot the game at 60-60. The Ravens would make a stop on Centenary's next possession and then Thomas would hit another key three-pointer to give the Ravens their first lead of the contest, 63-60 with 1:27 left in the game.
Centenary would miss on a three-point attempt on their next possession, but the Cyclones' Andy Charles was fouled after Centenary in-bounded the ball, and Charles made both shots from the charity stripe with 47 seconds left with Rosemont still clinging to a 63-62 lead. Rosemont called a timeout with 35 seconds left after which they would attempt a shot from the low post which was stopped by Centenary, who took the defensive rebound, trailing Rosemont by a point with 16 seconds left. The Cyclones called timeout with 10 seconds left to map out a play, which ended up being the final scoring drive of the game off of the hands of Beausejour. Rosemont would get a good look at a shot on their last possession, but the shot wouldn't fall, sealing the final result.
Marcus Thomas led Rosemont in scoring with 18 points. Dom Scafidi scored 15 and led the Ravens with six boards. Nadir Stukes also hit double-figures, scoring 10 with three assists.
Centenary placed three players in double-digits: Myles McLeod (16), Andy Charles (14), and Djovan Beausejour (13).
The Ravens have little time to rest from tonight's contest as they hit the road again tomorrow night against Cairn University at 8:00pm in Langhorne.
