ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Roberts Wesleyan University men's basketball team cut a 16-point halftime deficit to two twice in the final 20 seconds but was unable to overtake the College of Staten Island in the first round of the East Coast Conference Championship Wednesday night in the Voller Athletic Center.

Malik Brooks brought Roberts within two points, 77-75, with 16 seconds to play but the fifth-seeded Dolphins went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line the rest of the way to close out an 81-75 victory over the fourth-seeded Redhawks.

Junior guard Arnardo Camacho led Roberts (10-17) with 23 points and Brooks contributed 15 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, but it was not enough to overcome the stellar outside shooting of CSI, which went 14-for-35 from beyond the three-point arc.

"Overall, it was just a day that we didn't execute the way we needed to," Roberts coach Mark Saladzius said. "We didn't guard the line like we wanted to, that was the No. 1 thing on our list of keys."

The Redhawks scored the first two baskets of the game to take an early 4-0 lead and found themselves trailing 33-28 after a layup by Brooks with 3:13 remaining in the first half.

Aaron Goldstein made three three-pointers in the final 1:34, including one just before the buzzer, as the Dolphins closed the half on an 11-0 run to take a 44-28 lead at the break.

Roberts battled back in the second half and Nassir Hammond's dunk capped a 7-0 run and brought the Redhawks within 65-60 with 6:55 to play.

CSI made back-to-back three-pointers to go back in front by 11, but Roberts responded with an 8-0 spurt to get back within three with 1:35 left.

Keonjay Carter's three-pointer cut the Redhawks' deficit to 75-73 with18 seconds remaining, but CSI was perfect from the line the rest of the way.
Jermaine Taggart II added 15 points for Roberts and Hammonds contributed nine. Camacho added six rebounds and four assists.

The game marked the final appearance in a Roberts' uniform for Brooks, a graduate student, and seniors Taggart and Ryan Garwood.

CSI advances to play top-seeded Daemen in the ECC semifinals on Saturday.