Men's Basketball Falls to STAC in ECC Semifinals, 85-58
Box Score WASHINGTON, D.C. (Mar. 5, 2016) - On Saturday, the No. 4 seed LIU Post men's basketball team saw its 2015-16 campaign come to an end, losing 85-58 to top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas College in the semifinals of the 2016 East Coast Conference Championship at UDC Gymnasium.
The Pioneers (18-12) kept the game close in the early stages of the first half, as neither squad led by more than four points in the opening nine minutes.
However, the Spartans, who improved to 25-4, soon built a seven-point cushion (25-18) at the 9:19 mark, via a 9-2 run. Three different players sank jumpers in the paint for STAC. Junior guard Chaz Watler (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added a three-pointer in the spurt.
LIU Post then cut the deficit to 27-23 on a
Greg Dotson (Abington, Pa.) trifecta, before STAC pulled away and eventually took a 45-32 advantage into the locker room.
In the second half, the Pioneers were unable to break through the double-digit gap, sealing their fate. Senior guard
Dillon Burns (Staten Island, N.Y.) led all scorers in the period with nine points, his total for the day.
Dotson poured in a game-high 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting in the defeat. He also grabbed seven rebounds and swiped one steal. Junior guard
Jared Hall (South Orange, N.J.) amassed 13 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Senior forward
Michael Phillip (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 10 points, eight rebounds, seven blocks and two assists in 28 minutes off the bench. His seven rejections were one short of tying the program's single-game record set by Kenneth James in 1997.
Head Coach
Erik Smiles and his LIU Post squad wrapped up the 2015-16 season at 18-12 overall and 12-8 in ECC play. For more information on the Pioneers' men's basketball program, please continue to visit
LIUPostPioneers.com.