Manchester, N.H. (March 17) -- Trailing by double digits at the halftime break, the No. 3 seeded Assumption College men's basketball team rallied to take a lead late before dropping a 58-56 final to No. 7 seeded University of Bridgeport on Sunday night in the NCAA East Region Semifinals at the SNHU Fieldhouse.

Both teams started slow and neither team held more than a four-point lead over the first 18 minutes of play. Assumption trailed by a 14-10 margin with 8:18 left in the period before a three-pointer from senior Ronson Quick (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) and a pair of free throws by senior Tim Beinert (Bellerose Village, N.Y./Holy Cross) put the Hounds in front 15-14. The game was tied at 19-19 with 4:34 left in the period before a quick 6-0 Bridgeport run gave the Purple Knights the 25-19 advantage. Bridgeport scored 10 of its final 12 points of the half from the free throw line and held Assumption without a field goal over the last 6:21 to take a 30-21 lead into halftime. Sophomore Terrance Bobb-Jones (Wilmington, Del./Delcastle Voc-Tech) led the Hounds with nine points in the period, while Darian David led the Purple Knights with 10 points.

Assumption got its offense going in the early minutes of the second half, but Bridgeport continued to hold a 38-33 lead with 14:42 left. The Hounds eventually came all the way back as graduate student Kevin Donahue (Pawcatuck, Conn./Stonington) and Quick hit back-to-back threes for a 39-38 edge. Neither team led by more than three over the final 14:30 of the game as Assumption continued to hold a 52-51 lead with 4:50 left on a pair of Beinert free throws. A Bridgeport tip-in by Curtis Loving and a layup from Dion Waiters put the Purple Knights back in front at 55-52 with 3:06 on the clock.

The Hounds weren't done though as Beinert pulled Assumption within one on a layup and following a Bridgeport basket, Beinert knocked down to free throws to make it a 57-56 edge in favor of Assumption with 56 seconds left. Bridgeport took the lead for good with 43 seconds remaining as Waiters knocked down a difficult shot for the Purple Knights, but the Hounds still had one last chance as they called timeout with 9.5 seconds left. A Beinert shot in the lane was off the mark off the inbounds play and Jojo Swift knocked down a free throw with 4.3 seconds left to account for the final margin. A halfcourt shot from Donahue was off the mark for Assumption at the buzzer as the season came to a close.

Beinert led the Hounds with 18 points, along with 17 points and nine rebounds from Bobb-Jones. Quick also finished in double figures with an 11-point effort. Waiters led Bridgeport with an 18-point effort, along with 13 from David.

With the loss, Assumption finishes the season at 21-8 overall, while Bridgeport improves to 23-9 on the season.

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