Bonneau's Buzzer Beater Downs Dowling, 69-67
Box Score OAKDALE, N.Y. (Jan. 28, 2012) – The C.W. Post men's basketball team rebounded from a double-digit second-half deficit to win on a last second jumper by
Stefan Bonneau (Middletown, N.Y.) and hand Dowling a 69-67 defeat and earn its seventh straight victory on Sunday afternoon.
The Pioneers improve to 14-4 overall and 8-0 in conference play while Dowling slides to 7-11 overall and 3-5 in ECC action.
Vaughn Allen (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) led the Pioneer effort with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Bonneau added 20 points.
Tobin Carberry (Hamden, Conn.) rounded out the scoring with 14 points.
The Pioneers opened up the game with a 6-0 lead but watched the Golden Lions battle right back. The first half was close, with three ties and three lead changes, but Dowling began to pull away towards the end of the half and a three-pointer at the buzzer by John Merchant extended the host's lead to 40-28.
The visitors closed the gap to five points as the second half got underway, but the Golden Lions remained in control and led by 13 points (61-48) with nine minutes remaining. But the Pioneers slowly began to chip away, cutting the deficit with 13-2 run, capped with a dunk by Carberry at 4:53, and two free throws from Allen at 4:07, and the Pioneers were down by just two, 63-61.
With 1:45 remaining, Michael Hill gave the team a four point lead with a layup, by on the next possession Bonneau cut it right back to two with a layup of his own. With 47 seconds left, Bonneau came through again with a layup and tied the contest.
The Pioneers pulled down the defensive rebound on the ensuing Dowling possession, and with seven seconds left, called a 20 second timeout. Staying hot, Bonneau calmly hit a jumper with just one second remaining to complete the comeback and keep the Pioneer win streak intact.
Head coach Chris Casey and company look to continue their win streak at home on Wednesday, Jan. 1 against NYIT at 7:30 p.m.