We have just gotten through Day 1 of the Artie40 Allen D3 Preseason NIT. Last night saw three matchups, Loras @ Westfield St., Muhlenberg @ Palm Beach Atlantic and Centre @ Dominican.
Loras - 60, Westfield St. - 64
Led by Player of the Game Christopher Bowers, and his 17 pts, 6 rebound night, Westfield State pulled out the tight win. Loras, down seven at the half, managed to draw the game even with 1:21 left but did not score again and lost. Westfield's defense was a big reason why they managed this win, especially in the first half, as they held this Loras attack to only one 3 pointer in the first seven and a half minutes of the game. Loras was no defensive slouch either, holding Westfield St's offense to only 12 points in that span and not letting them run away with the game. Loras was lead by Thomas Brown's 17 pt, 10 rebound evening.
Muhlenberg - 78, Palm Beach Atlantic - 75
Player of the Game Melvin Satterfield paced Muhlenberg's close win against PBA with a 21 point effort. PBA started strong, holding the lead for the first 29 and a half minutes of the contest until a Satterfield 3 gave the Mules their first advantage. The rest of the contest was a back and forth affair which included an over 2 and a half minute drought by both teams. The last time the game was knotted up was at 70 a piece on a Morgan Cusack tip-in with 1:27 remaining, but from that point on the Mules finished well and held on for the win. PBA had a balanced effort, led by James Raney and Steven Hyer's 19 points.
Centre - 58, Dominican - 74
Dominican's balanced effort took them to the win behind Player of the Game Brett Shaner's 15 pt, 4 rebound effort. Dominican used a 13-3 run from 12:45-6:55 remaining in the first half to create the advantage they held until the half. Centre came out strong in the second half, using an 8-0 run from 14:52-10:00 to pull the game within one, but the effort proved too much as they were outscored 29-14 the rest of the way. Centre was led by Charles Hopkins 18 points in the losing effort.
Standings
Dominican 1 and 0
Westfield St 1 and 0
Muhlenberg 1 and 0
Centre 0 and 1
PBA 0 and 1
Loras 0 and 1
Texas Tyler 0 and 0
On the schedule for tonight:
Westfield St @ Dominican
Texas Tyler @ Loras
Palm Beach Atlantic @ Centre
Muhlenberg is "off" and plays #1 Maine, Presque Isle