Hot first half shoots Dickinson past McDaniel, into CC semis
WESTMINSTER, Md. – Kazmahr Grell netted 21 of his 25 points in the first half to stake Dickinson to a 45-30 halftime advantage en route to an 89-80 victory at McDaniel in the first round of the 2008 Centennial Conference (CC) tournament on Wednesday. In a night that featured the point guards, the Green Terror’s T.J. Odunlami (Columbia, Md./Atholton) matched Grell with a career-best 25 points.
The Red Devils (14-11), who made their first CC tournament appearance since winning it all in 1997, made twice as many field goals as McDaniel (15-11) in the first half (18 to 9) in building a lead that would eventually swell to as many as 22 against a squad making its first postseason appearance since 1995.
Eric Rahauser started a barrage of 10 3-pointers, hitting on Dickinson’s opening possession 36 seconds into the game.
Brett Foelber (Sykesville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) trimmed the deficit to one on the ensuing Green Terror possession but the first of three Grell treys ignited a 17-6 run over the next 6 minutes, 25 seconds to stretch the lead to 12.
Grell contributed his first seven points during the burst.
A Tom Leszcynski coast-to-coast basket with 1:04 on the first-half clock stretched the first-half lead to as many as 17.
A 15-8 spurt over the first 4:12 of the second half pushed the lead to 22 before McDaniel mounted its fierce comeback.
An Odunlami layup on the break for his 12th and 13th points of the night at the 15:10 mark started a 4-minute, 4-second period that saw the Green Terror hold the Red Devils off the board and trim the deficit to 14.
Two free throws apiece from Grell and Timothy Crouch pushed the lead back to 18 before another 13-4 burst trimmed the deficit to single digits for the first time since 10:45 remained in the first half.
Clinging to 72-63 with 5:25 to play, Pat Kearns hit a jumper in the lane to spark an 11-6 burst, pushing the lead back to 14 with 1:17 showing and putting the game out of reach.
In addition to Grell and Odunlami’s 25 points each, Leszczynski and Cory Kenny each reached the 20-point mark for Dickinson with 21 and 20, respectively. Miguel Jones (Baltimore, Md./North County) reached the 20-point plateau, tallying a career-best 20 that included a 12 of 13 showing from the free-throw line for McDaniel, who went 28-for-37 from the stripe as a team – the most made free throws since a program-record 41 against Loyola in 1961.
The Red Devils, who advance to Saturday’s semifinals against top-seed and 17th-ranked Ursinus, held a 43-31 advantage on the glass, including 16 from Leszczynski.
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