Easton, Mass. (11/11/17) The Dominican College men's basketball team rallied from a four point halftime deficit to defeat Assumption College, 63-58, this afternoon in the 2017 Stonehill Tip-Off Classic played on Paula Sullivan Court in Merkert Gymnasium.

With the win, Dominican improves to 2-0 overall while Assumption drops to 0-2 on the season.

Junior center Ian Gardener (Norwalk, Conn.) recorded team bests of 21 points and eight rebounds in the victory.

The first stanza saw the Chargers trailing 28-24 with a little over two minutes remaining, when Gardener scored a layup.  Following a Greyhound basket, Gardener hit a jumper with 34 ticks left in the half to cut the Dominican deficit to 32-28 at the break.  He finished the first half with 13 points.  As a team, the Chargers shot 45.5% (10-22) from the floor and went7-13 (53.8%) from the foul line.

The Chargers opened up second half play with a 9-2 run to pull in front 37-35 and would later use a trey from Michael Richardson (Hackensack, N.J.) to extend their lead to 54-46 with 6:33 left in regulation.

Guard Daraja Rodwell (Baldwin, N.Y.) secured the win after icing two free throws with 34 seconds to go for the 63-58 win.

Dominican finished the contest shooting 24-49 (49.0%) from the floor, 5-17 (29.4%) from the three-point arc and went 10-18 (55.6%) from the foul line.

Rodwell finished with 12 points and two steals.

Jonathan Garcia (Springfield, Mass.) tallied seven points and four boards, while Richardson also netted seven points.

Sophomore Daniel Grant (Middletown, N.Y.) accumulated a team high six assists.

DC will return to action on Friday night as they host the 6th Annual Daniel Sullivan Memorial Tournament on Coach Baxter Court in the Hennessy Center.  The Chargers will take on the College of Saint Rose at 8pm.