The Terriers opened up a 14-4 lead by hitting seven of their first eight shots. Following a Blue Devil timeout, the home squad rattled off 16 straight points over the next five minutes to take a 20-14 lead with 11:25 on the clock before halftime.

CCSU led by as many as eight in the first half but the Terriers responded with a 9-2 run of their own over the next five minutes to cut the lead to 29-28. A late three by CCSU freshman Joe Seymore gave the Blue Devils a 32-28 lead at the break.

in the second half the Terriers rallied to tie the score at 36-36 but a quick 7-2 spurt by the Blue Devils, all on free-throws, gave them a 43-38 lead. Leading 46-42, CCSU scored seven unanswered points to take their largest lead of the game, 53-42, with 10 minutes on the game clock.

St. Francis (NY) would cut the lead to 55-48 but the Blue Devils used an 11-1 run over the next three minutes to put the game out of reach at 66-49 with 6:40 to play.

Nwadike's 17th double-double of the season led the way for CCSU. Blackwood had 25 points and five assists while senior Javier Mojica, the 2007 NEC Player of the Year, added eight points, a game-high 12 boards and six assists in 39 minutes of action.

"We played as a team tonight and we were fortunate to get out of an early hole against a good ball club," Central Connecticut head coach Howie Dickenman said following the game. "I told the guys earlier that even though Javier won the Player of the Year Award it could have gone to any one of our three guys who made the all-conference team. These guys continue to play well as a team. Now we go back to work and concentrate on Sunday."

The Blue Devils outrebounded the Terriers 38-29 and dished out 16 assists. They had only four turnovers in the second half of the game. CCSU shot 24-of-49 from the field (49 percent) in the game including 11-of-19 in the second half. St. Francis (NY) hit on 24-of-60 (40.0 percent) in the game including 4-of-16 (25.0 percent) from three.

St. Francis (NY) was paced by four players in double-figures on the night led by Marcus Williams' 16 points and eight rebounds. Jamaal Womack had 13 points while Robert Hines had 12 and Allan Sheppard chipped in 10 in the losing effort.

#2 Sacred Heart 100, #7 Wagner 68
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Fairfield, CT -- Junior forward Joey Henley (Kent, WA) chalked up his first double-double of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds, leading five Sacred Heart University players in double figures as the top-seeded Pioneers ran away with a 100-68 win over #7 Wagner College in the first round of the Northeast Conference men's basketball tournament Thursday night. The 32-point margin of victory was the largest for the Pioneers since during Division I in 1999.

Sacred Heart, 17-13, scored the first five points of the game thanks to a pair of buckets from Henley. By the time the first five minutes expired, the Pioneers had opened a 15-4 lead and midway through the half led 24-13. Junior Mark Porter (Atlantic City, NJ) tried to keep Wagner in the game, scoring eight of the first 12 Wagner points.

The Pioneers led 44-25 at the intermission and held the Seahawks to just 31 percent from the field (10-32) in the period and forced ten turnovers. Henley had ten points and seven boards at the half, while his team shot a healthy 53 percent from the field (16-30) and 77 percent from the line (10-13) in the half.

"We ran into a buzz saw that we couldn't stop," said Wagner head coach Mike Deane of the first half. "We were outplayed, outmanned, and outhustled. We got beat, got beat pretty soundly."

Consecutive dunks by Henley and senior Jarrid Frye (Queens, NY) to start the second half widened the Pioneer lead to 48-25. SHU doubled up the Seahawks at 66-33 on a dunk by junior Brice Brooks (Silverdale, WA) with 12:10 left in the game.

Wagner, 11-19, used a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to 66-43 with 10:03 to go. Senior Matt Vitale (Brooklyn, NY) had eight of the points in the run. Vitale finished with 20 points, including several long-distance three-pointers that awed the Pioneer's home crowd.

Another Frye dunk, followed by a trey from junior Drew Shubik (Stoystown, PA) put Sacred Heart back up 81-46 with 6:28 left in the game, and head coach Dave Bike went to his bench for the remainder of the game as the Pioneers cruised home.

"We came out and wanted to pick up our defense," said Bike "Our defense has to be important. We say defense wins championships and I thought we had a good first half defensively- we didn't let up and rebounded pretty well."

"I needed to step up and play big for my teammates and I just let instincts take over to score down low," said Henley. "I was getting down on myself for my play of late, but we were winning so that's what is most important. Tonight was a team victory."

"We have to give a ton of credit to Sacred Heart because they were incredible tonight," said Dean. "We have taken care of the ball better this season than we did tonight, but that's credit to Sacred Heart's defense and our fatigue."

"I'm happy for Henley, happy for Jarrid Frye and the other seniors," Dean continued. "They have had great careers here. I'm happy for Dave [Bike] and now that they beat us, they're a team were going to root for."

Sacred Heart advances to the semi-finals on Sunday, where it will take on #3 seed Quinnipiac University at 4:00 p.m. in Fairfield

#3 Quinnipiac 78, #6 Fairleigh Dickinson 77
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Hamden, CT -- Quinnipiac University senior guard Van Crafton (Hanover, Ind.) knocked down two free throws with 5.9 seconds remaining in regulation to give the No. 3 seeded Bobcats a 78-77 victory over No. 6 seeded Fairleigh Dickinson in a Northeast Conference tournament quarterfinal round contest at the TD Banknorth Sports Center in Hamden, Conn. on Thursday night. Crafton led all scorers with 23 points in the contest.

The Bobcats (14-14) advance to the NEC tournament semifinals on Saturday against No. 2 seeded Sacred Heart, a winner over Wagner on Thursday. The other semifinal game pits top-seeded Central Connecticut against Mount St. Mary's.

FDU concludes its season with a record of 14-16. It was the second straight year that the two clubs played to a one-point decision in a NEC quarterfinal game. Last season, FDU squeaked out a 66-65 victory at the Rothman Center.

Both teams came out of the gates with their offenses clicking. However, the Bobcats carried a 13-10 lead into the first media timeout.

Fairleigh Dickinson scored the next nine points of the game to take a 19-13 advantage. Quinnipiac scored 10 of the next 14 points to claw back within a point at 24-23 with 8:42 left in the opening half.

The Knights countered with a 17-3 spurt over the next 5:09 to take their largest lead of the first half at 41-26. However, Quinnipiac scored eight of the final nine points of the stanza to trim the lead to 42-34 at halftime.

In the second half, the Bobcats rallied to take their first lead since early in the first half when Crafton scored nine straight points to put Quinnipiac in front 62-58.

With the Bobcats up six points, 69-63 a short while later, FDU responded by scoring eight of the next nine points to take a 71-70 lead.

Quinnipiac's DeMario Anderson (Oxon Hill, Md.) answered with a three-pointer to give the Bobcats the lead again at 73-71. Andre Harris followed with a jumper from the elbow that tied the score at 73 with 1:15 remaining.

The Bobcats once again rallied, as Casey Cosgrove (Andover, Mass.) hit a three-pointer to give Quinnipiac a 76-73 lead with 58.3 left.

The Knights scored the next four points of the game, all on free throws, capped by a pair of freebies from Sean Baptiste with 18.2 remaining that gave the visitors a 77-76 lead.

Quinnipiac got the ball back and Crafton was fouled driving down the lane. He calmly knocked down both ends of a 1-and-1 and FDU's Michael Peeples missed a shot at the buzzer that would have given FDU the win.

DeMario Anderson finished with 17 points for the Bobcats, while Chris Wehye (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 15. Karl Anderson (Chester, N.Y.) chipped in 11 for Quinnipiac.

#5 Mount St. Mary's 78, #4 Robert Morris 61
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Moon Township, PA -- Fifth-seeded Mount St. Mary’s pulled the lone upset of the 2007 Northeast Conference Tournament quarterfinals Thursday night with a 78-61 victory over No. 4 seed Robert Morris Thursday night at the Charles L. Sewall Center. The win advances the Mount to face No. 1 seeded Central Connecticut State, while the Colonials finish their season with an overall record of 17-11.

Robert Morris jumped out to a 13-6 lead in the first five and-a-half minutes of play as senior forward A.J. Jackson (Monessen, Pa. /Monessen) scored six points, senior center Freddie Harris (Decatur, Ala./ Lawson State C.C.) scored four points and senior guard Derek Coleman (Dorchester, Mass. /Charlestown) hit a three-pointer. However, the Colonials would miss their next seven shots from the field while committing five turnovers as Mount St. Mary*s went on a 9-1 run to take a 15-14 advantage at the 9:15 mark of the first half. RMU briefly grabbed the lead back, 16-15, on a layup from sophomore guard Jeremy Chappell (Cincinnati, Ohio / Northwest), but the Mount answered with a jumper from Gus Durr (Pasadena, Md. / Archbishop Spalding) to give Mount St. Mary*s the lead for good, 17-16.

The lead was extended to six at halftime, 36-32, in favor of Mount St. Mary’s as senior guard Mychal Kearse (Charlotte, N.C. / Providence Day), the 2007 Co-Defensive Player of the Year in the NEC, scored eight points before the break to pace the Mount. Junior guard Chris Vann (Woodbridge, Va. / Garfield) opened the second half scoring with a three-pointer, and Kearse followed with a jumper to give Mount St. Mary’s a 41-32 lead with 19:08 to play.

Robert Morris let the deficit fall to double digits when Jason Loughry (Odenton, Md. / Archbishop Spalding) scored a layup, and the Colonials never were able to mount a serious threat the rest of the game. Kearse finished with 19 points to lead four Mount St. Mary*s players in double figures as guard Jeremy Goode (Charlotte, N.C. / Providence Day) added 13 points, while Durr and Vann each finished with 12 points each.

The Colonials were paced by Jackson, who scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Coleman finished with 12 points. As a club Robert Morris shot just 35.6 percent (21-for-59), including 27.6 percent (8-for-29) in the second half, while the Mount shot 52.7 percent (29-for-55) from the field. Mount St. Mary’s also held a 40-32 edge on the backboard and scored 19 points on 15 RMU turnovers.

Mount St. Mary’s will advance to the NEC quarterfinals and face top-seeded Central Connecticut State on Sunday, March 4.