In was a heartbreaking final four minutes of action as Caldwell University rallied to defeat Chestnut Hill College 67-65 Saturday evening in the semi-finals of the Central Atlantic collegiate conference Men's Basketball Tournament. The semi final and final rounds of the tournament are being hosted by Jefferson University.
The Griffins finished their season with a 16-14 record. The Cougars improved to 20-9.
Conor Regan led all scorers with 19 points (5-9 FG, 3-5 3FG, 6-6 FT) while
Amir Warrick and
MJ Iraldi added 16 and 15 points respectively.
Nigel Haughton led the team with 11 rebounds and four assists.
Regan also had five blocks in the game, just the fourth player in program history to record five or more blocks in a game and the first to do so since January 2019 when Tony Toplyn Jr. record back-to-back five block games in January of that year.
The Griffins, who had led by five at halftime, built their lead to a game-high of 12 points just five minutes into the final periods following a Regan three-ball. CHC still led by nine, 56-47 with 4:31 left, when the Cougars earnestly began to chip away at the Griffin lead. Caldwell scored seven straight points in a span of 69 seconds to pull within two 56-54 with 3:05 left. Iraldi's three-ball with 1:55 left made it a five point game 62-56 before the Cougars went on an 8-2 run to take their first lead since the eight-minute mark of the first half, 64-63 following a Mark Heber three-pointer with a minute left in regulation.
Caldwell added a free throw to go up by two before Regan tied the game at 65-65 with his last two free throws of the night with 19 seconds left. The Cougars brough the ball up and Kirk Parsons drew a foul in traffic with 1.1 seconds left. Parson sank both free throws to seal the win as the Griffins could not get a shot off before the buzzer sounded.
Both teams turned in almost identical stat lines for the game with the Griffins shooting 36.8% (21-57) and the Cougars 36.4% (24-66) Caldwell made 13 of 14 free throws (92.9%) and the Griffins made 17 of 20 (85%). Caldwell did out rebound CHC 40-38.
The Cougars will play Jefferson University for the CACC Championship on Sunday, March 5.
