Box Score Philadelphia, PA – (12/10/2011) – Chestnut Hill College came out firing, but in the end a clutch three-point senior guard Brandon Williams (Philadelphia, PA) and rebound from senior forward Dan Comas (Philadelphia, PA). The result was an 86-84 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) victory over the Caldwell College and the 100^th career win for Head Coach Jesse Balcer and the Chestnut Hill College men's basketball program.
 
Chestnut Hill College (9-3, 3-0) controlled a 52-33 advantage over Caldwell College (6-3, 3-2) at intermission largely in part to the play of junior guard Mark DiRugeris Jr. (Woodbury, NJ), who hit three from long range (3-of-4, 75.5%) in an 8-of-9 (88.9%) first-half shooting performance. After the break the Griffins lead briefly topped out at 22, 57-35 (17:49), before the Cougars began to claw their way back in behind the play of senior guard Nik Otovic (Karljevo, Serbia). He offered eight points and a lot of hustle in a 40-14 swing that left the Cougars up 75-74 with four minutes to play (4:08). They still held a one-point lead, 82-81, as the contest entered the final minute of regulation (1:05), but with exactly 30 seconds remaining DiRugeris collected a tipped baseline inbound pass and found Williams for a three-point basket which landed the Griffins a 84-82 lead. Comas corralled a tough rebound on the Cougars ensuing game-tying effort forcing the visitors to foul DiRugeris on the outlet. He converted the free throws to put the Griffins up 86-82, to insure the Griffins against a last-second Cougar tip-in, 86-84.
 
Otovic led the Cougars with 18 points, five assists, and three steals. Off the bench, freshman forward Michael Balkovic (Neptune, NJ) offered a double-double performance with 18 points and 11 rebounds while the majority of the Cougars remaining points came from starting backcourt of freshman Kevin Walker (Bayonne, NJ) and senior Anthony Gill (New Rochelle, NY). Walker provided 12 points in addition to five assists and two steals while Gill recorded 13 points and four assists.
 
DiRugeris totaled 19 points in the first half and finished the game with a career-high 28 points by hitting 11-of-16 (68.8%) from the floor, 4-of-6 (66.7%) from beyond the arch, and 2-of-2 (100.0%) from the charity stripe. Williams earned seven of his 17 points at the free throw line (7-of-7, 100.0%) while also providing four assists and four steals in addition to his game-winning three-point shot. Freshman guard Luke Dickson (Pittman, NJ) supplied 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Head Coach Jesse Balcer has governed the men's basketball team at Chestnut Hill College since the program's establishment in 2003. He was the 2004-2005 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Coach of the Year after leading the Griffins to a NCAA DIII conference championship game and he has developed a five, 1,000-point scorers; including two-time Player of the Year Isaac Greer (2,065 career points). Under his direction the men's basketball program was the College's first to reach postseason play as a member of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC), qualifying for a championship tournament appearance following the 2008-2009 regular season.  Most recently, the Griffins reached the CACC Semifinals in the 2010-2011 season after earning the #3 seed in the conference championship tournament with an 8-9 league standing and a 12-16 overall record.

The men's basketball team breaks from their CACC schedule with a 2:00 p.m. contest at the University of California (PA) on Sunday, December 18.