Drexel fights past Old Dominion

The Old Dominion basketball team came out of the locker room shooting blanks in the second half tonight at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Host Drexel did not.

The Dragons dominated the visitors in the last 20 minutes of a 62-57 Colonial Athletic Association victory.

The Dragons took control of the game when they limited Old Dominion to 1-for-13 shooting to start the second half. The Monarchs scored only three points during the first 12-plus minutes, and the Dragons had a 47-35 lead with just over eight minutes remaining.

Old Dominion was looking at a 58-45 deficit with 2 minutes, 34 seconds left. Drexel wound up snapping a six-game losing streak against the Monarchs, although the visitors did not go quietly.

Drexel received a game-high 16 points from guard Chris Fouch, while forward Daryl McCoy finished with 11 points and 16 rebounds. Forward Samme Givens and guard Gerald Colds scored 12 points each for the Dragons.

Old Dominion was led by guards Kent Bazemore (13 points) and Ben Finney (12), along with forward Keyon Carter (13).

Drexel upped its record to 11-4 overall and 3-2 in the CAA. Old Dominion, which had won seven of its previous eight games with Drexel, fell to 12-4 and 3-2. Hofstra, which was idle tonight, is atop the CAA standings at 5-0.

Dragons coach Bruiser Flint was back on the bench. He served a one-game suspension Saturday after being ejected from his team's loss at Virginia Commonwealth.

After trailing by eight points at intermission, Drexel evened the score at 34 with less than 15 minutes to go on consecutive three-point plays by McCoy and Givens. When reserve guard Fouch nailed a trey from the left wing, and then another from the left corner, the Dragons were leading, 40-34 with 11:05 left.

Givens, who came in as the CAA's leading rebounder at 10.9 per game, picked up a foul on the first possession of the contest. With only 3:02 gone, Drexel's second-leading scorer was whistled a second time and was replaced by freshman Dartaye Ruffin.

Before six minutes had expired, Old Dominion was up by 15-6.

Fouch, the team's leading scorer, entered the game at the 14:53 mark and hit a three-pointer from the top of the key the first time he touched the ball to cut Drexel's deficit to 17-11.

When Givens checked back into the gamed with 8:37 remaining in the half, Drexel trailed by eight. And when McCoy scored on a follow-up, Drexel's deficit was down to five points at 23-18.

But Old Dominion went on an impressive 6-0 run that included a dunk by Chris Cooper, a jumper from afar by Finney, and then his tip-in off an alley-oop as the Monarchs went ahead by 30-18 on its way to a 32-24 halftime advantage.

Each team had 20 rebounds at the break.

The leading scorers for Drexel at halftime were Fouch and McCoy with five points each. Finney had 10 for Old Dominion.