The Cavaliers went into halftime with a 49-40 lead over Gwynedd Mercy, but after a wild second-half shootout, were not able to finish the game with the lead on senior night. Cabrini finished up the regular season with a 15-10 record overall and 13-5 conference record.
The Cavaliers are now entering the CSAC tournament with the third seed. This means that they will face the sixth seeded Immaculata University at home for their first game of the tournament. The teams split their two regular season meetings.
“Obviously it’s a tough loss for us,” head coach Tim McDonald said. “I think we played really hard the entire game. I think it was a couple of spurts where we missed a couple of easy shots that we normally make. I think if we make them it’s a different outcome.”
The Cavaliers held the Gwynedd Mercy Griffins to 25 percent shooting from triples in the first-half and shot 8-16 from three point land themselves. They also caused nine turnovers to their six.
The Griffins came out in the second half with a 13-5 run and set the scene for a back and forth showdown for the rest of the second half. The lead changed a total of 9 times and there were six ties.
The Griffins caught fire from three point land in the second half going 8-15 on triples and shot around 55 percent overall.
“I think the first half we did a really good job of keeping their guys under pressure the whole time,” McDonald said. “The second half they ran some stuff and they have really good shooters. They shoot the ball really well as a team. A couple times on the defensive end, recovering out of our press we let a couple open shooters go.”
“A lot of them were contested three’s where guys are going to make shots, but I was happy we contested the majority of them,” McDonald said. “I think the first five minutes of the second half is where we let a couple shooters get open shots and it came back to bite us there.”
Senior communication major and guard Ace Henry believes it was on the team to stop the Griffins, but they were too much to handle.
“They got hot, but at the end of the day it was on us on defense because we had a lead at halftime so we were just trying to come out and close it and get the lead up,” Henry said. “They came out with a sense of urgency and were hitting shots.”
Sophomore forward and communication major Deryl Bagwell thinks the key to winning is to lock in more on defense.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” McDonald said. “They were making the majority of their shots so we couldn’t get any fast break points. If they’re not making them it makes it easier for us. If they are then we have to play a lot harder. Some of it was good defense, but some of it was that they were just making shots.”
“Just like when we played Scranton they were making shots too,” McDonald said. “We were probably playing the best defense we ever played, but you couldn’t tell because they were making all those threes.”
Freshman guard Ivan Robinson had a game high 26 points to go along with six assists and eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Tyheim Monroe collected his 25th double double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. He also had three assists.
Junior Ryan Charity added 16 points off of the pine and Ace Henry poured in 13 for his final regular season home game. Jair Green had a decent all around game with nine points, seven rebounds, and three assists.
The Cavaliers finished with 14 turnovers, shot 43 percent from the field and 72 percent from the free throw line.
“I think we came out strong so we just have to keep doing that every game,” Henry said. “It’s important to get off to a good start.”
“We have to play defense in the second half because if a team is down at the half they’re going to come out and give us their best shot,” Henry said. “It’s up to us to respond to that and playing how we played in the first half to get that lead. It’s a lot we can take away. They’re a playoff team, we’ll see them again.”
