Men’s basketball drops two to fall to 13-18 record

Originally Posted on The Triangle via UWIRE

Junior Alihan Demir (30) drives toward basket during a game against Northeastern University. The Dragons lost this game to drop to 13-18 (Photograph by Alex Pachkowski for The Triangle).

Coming into the game as underdogs despite being at home, the Drexel University men’s basketball team put up a good fight against Hofstra University, who is in first place in the Colonial Athletic Association. Despite the efforts from the home squad, Hofstra defeated Drexel by a score of 80-77, Feb. 28.

In the first half, the Dragons struggled offensively. As a team, they shot just 20 percent from three-point range and 42 percent from field goal range. Despite the poor shooting, Drexel only trailed by six points at halftime. Drexel did a solid job of limiting the offensive production from Hofstra senior standout Justin Wright-Foreman, who made only four of his 13 shot attempts in the first half. Junior Alihan Demir led the Dragons in scoring with 12 points on 4-6 shooting in the first half. Graduate transfer Trevor John made history after hitting a three in the first quarter giving him 93 threes on the season, a new Drexel record. He passed former standout Dominick Mejia who made 92 three-pointers during the 2005-06 season.

In the second half, the Dragons caught on fire offensively. Drexel shot 45 percent from three and 52 percent on field goals in the second half. John added to his special night in the second half, hitting five of his eight three-point attempts. Demir continued to produce in the second half as well, going for 12 points to give him 24 on the night overall while making an incredible nine of his 13 field goal attempts. Unfortunately, one of Demir’s misses was a three-point attempt at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime. Despite Drexel’s strong scoring effort in the second half, Wright-Forman’s second half offensive display was too much to handle. After starting out slow in the first half, the senior hit eight out of his 10 attempts in the second half including four three-pointers. This accounted for 23 of his total 32 points in the game.

The Dragons’ next game came against Northeastern University March 2, marking the last regular season game.. The first half was a back-and-forth battle as the Dragons found themselves down 37-33 at halftime. The Dragons were led by freshman standout Camryn Wynter who had 13 points and five assists by halftime.

The second half was a different story as the Dragons got outscored by 20 points. Drexel could not contain Northeastern redshirt junior Vasa Pusica who scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half. The final score of the game was 90-66 in favor of Northeastern.

The loss gives Drexel a regular season record of 13-18 overall and 7-11 in CAA. Despite the losing record, Drexel did well enough to secure the sixth seed in the CAA tournament with a date against the third seeded College of Charleston (23-8 overall, 12-6 in CAA conference play). The game will take place March 10 at 8:30 p.m. in North Charleston, South Carolina. Leading Charleston is junior Grant Riller who is averaging 22 points, three rebounds and four assists per game. The teams haven’t met since Feb. 9 in Philadelphia, which saw Drexel lose to Charleston 86-84.

Read more here: https://www.thetriangle.org/sports/mens-basketball-drops-two-to-fall-to-13-18-record/
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