MADISON, N.J. - Top-seeded Drew finished off a perfect conference season, defeating Catholic 85-70 in the Landmark Conference Championship Game.
Jamie Ntiamoah recorded a double-double, scoring 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds to lead Catholic.
The Rangers made 10 first-half three-pointers, building a 50-29 advantage at the halftime break. The Cardinals pulled back within 10 with 12:46 remaining, but couldn't trim the gap any further.
The contest got off to a quick start, sitting in an 11-11 tie less than five minutes in after a
Sean Neylon jumper. In just over four minutes, Drew built a 13-point advantage, using a 15-2 run, getting threes from James Anderson and Kevin Cronin.
Drew built up a 19-point lead with 3:21 to play as Cronin knocked down another three and the lead reached 24 before the Rangers took a 21-point lead into the break.
Trailing 54-35 with 16:57 left in the contest, Catholic started to punch back, using a 9-0 run to pull within 10 as Ntiamoah scored with 12:46 on the clock. Still trailing by 10 47 seconds later, Catholic was on the wrong end of a 7-0 run as the Rangers built a 64-47 lead on a Peso Crump dunk.
Justin Green brought Catholic within 11 with 7:17 to play, but the Cardinals were unable to trim the lead back inside of 13 for the final 3:07 as Drew won the crown on its home floor.
With 12 points in the contest, Neylon surpassed 1,000 points as a Cardinal becoming the 49th player in program history to do so.
Catholic will await its NCAA Tournament fate on Monday afternoon when the Selection Show airs.