Philadelphia, Pa. - The Holy Family University men's basketball team will be making its fourth straight Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament appearance on Saturday as the Tigers host the third seed from the North, Caldwell University.
Holy Family (21-7, 15-4 CACC) is seeded second from the South Division and will face the Cougars (15-12, 11-8 CACC) at 2 p.m. at the Campus Center Gymnasium. Price of admission to the CACC Tournament is $6 for adults, $3 for children, seniors and students with proper ID. Children under the age of three (3) will be admitted for free.
The winner will advance to the semifinals on Friday, March 6 and play the winner of the Dominican (#1 North) vs. Wilmington (#4 South) quarterfinal matchup.
The Tigers are 13-6 versus Caldwell since joining Division II beginning with the 2003-2004 season. This will be the third meeting between Holy Family and Caldwell in postseason play. The Tigers first met the Cougars in postseason action back in the CACC Semifinals of the 2007-2008 season and came away with a 55-53 win. This will mark the second consecutive year that the two have met up in the CACC Quarterfinals. The Tigers were victorious in last year's matchup defeating Caldwell 75-63.
In this year's regular season meeting hosted by Caldwell, the Tigers came away with an 85-76 victory. Juniors Marvin Crawford (Edison, N.J./J.P. Stevens) and Isaiah Gans (Philadelphia, Pa./Redemption Christian Academy) each contributed 19 points in the win, while redshirt junior Reggie Charles (Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge) went 4-of-7 from the field and tallied seven assists. Crawford grabbed seven rebounds and blocked three shots, while Gans recorded six rebounds.
This season, Charles is leading the team with 477 points (17.0 ppg), which ties for fourth-best in the CACC. In addition, he is second in the conference in assists (138) and tenth in the conference with a .507 field-goal percentage and 41 steals.
Gans and Crawford have supplied the Tigers with 15.1 and 13.1 points per game respectively this season. Gans ranks tenth in the CACC in points, second in blocked shots (55) and is tied for sixth among conference leaders with fellow teammate, junior Derrick Stewart (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti), with 211 total rebounds. Crawford leads the team in steals (48), which is tied for third best in the CACC.
Caldwell senior Michael Balkovic is leading the team with 16.3 points per game, which ranks seventh in the CACC. His 328 total rebounds (12.1) are currently second among conference leaders, and his 58.0-percent shooting percentage is third best. Junior Dawan Lighty leads the team and conference in three-point field-goal percentage (47.2).
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