Hot-Shooting Defenders End Marywood's Season
Prince Blacknall scored 15 points to lead Marywood in the final game of his tremendous career in a Pacers' uniform.

Hot-Shooting Defenders End Marywood's Season

- 2/21/2009 4:59:34 PM

BOX SCORE

Scranton, PA – Baptist Bible College built a 17-point halftime lead after shooting 70.4 percent from the floor in the opening half and never looked back in a 94-73 win over Marywood University in the first round of the Colonial States Athletic Conference playoffs on Saturday afternoon. The Defenders improve to 11-13 on the season and advance to the CSAC semifinals while the Pacers see their best season in program history end with a 15-11 mark.

After Karl Anderson (Macungie, PA) knocked down a pair of free throws to give fourth-seeded Marywood an early 5-4 lead just over two and half minutes into the game, Baptist Bible, the fifth-seed in the conference tournament, went on a 15-3 run to take a 19-8 lead with 15:09 to play in the opening half.

A John Foreman (Sleepy Hollow, NY) lay-up brought the Pacers back within nine points at the 14:43 mark, but that was as close as Marywood would come in the opening half, as the Defenders shot a blazing 70.4 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.

Justin Cook's three-pointer with 3:13 gave Baptist Bible their biggest lead of the half at 48-29, as the visitors knocked down 8 of 12 attempts from beyond their arc and took a 52-35 lead into halftime.

Tommy Waszaj led Baptist Bible with 17 points in the first half while Cook added 15 for the Defenders.

Karl Anderson led Marywood with 11 points in the first half after connecting on 3 of 4 three point attempts. Matthew Medici (Princeton Junction, NJ) added 10 points in the opening stanza as the Pacers shot 40.6 from the floor and connected on 4 of 14 three-point attempts.

The Defenders would continue their hot shooting coming out of the locker room, connecting on their first five attempts from the field and would take their largest lead of the game at 70-46 on a Stephen Howard lay-up with 12:11 to play.

Marywood struggled to narrow their deficit, unable to come up with defensive stops as the Defenders continued to shoot the ball well. The Pacers would draw within 12 points at 85-73 on a Sidney Tharpe (Victorville, CA) three-pointer with 3:15 to play, but that was as close as the hosts would come.

Waszaj finished with a game-high 28 points on 10 of 17 shooting from the floor including a 5 of 9 effort from three-point range. Travis Wash netted 19 points while Cook ended the afternoon with 17 as Baptist Bible beat the Pacers for the first time in three games this season. The Defenders finished the game shooting 61 percent from the floor and 58.8 percent from beyond the arc.

Five Marywood players scored double-digits, led by Prince Blacknall's (Stroudsburg, PA) 15 points. Anderson finished with 14 points while Tharpe contributed a double-double on 13 points and 10 rebounds. Medici netted 12 points while Joshua Pena (New York, NY) added 10 in the loss.

Marywood shot 40.3 percent from the floor for the game and 28 percent from three-point land.

Baptist Bible will now take on top-seeded Gwynedd-Mercy College in the Colonial States Athletic Conference semifinals on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m in Gwynedd-Valley.
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