New Rochelle, NY - Cape Fear men's basketball defeated Harford Community College, 75-71, in the final game of the Monroe College Classic. Sophomore forward Zaqwaun Matthews led with 23 points and seven rebounds.

Cape Fear split their previous two games this weekend, defeating Baltimore City Community College on Friday, but then losing to Monroe College on Saturday.

It was a slow start for both teams, as neither scored in the opening three minutes of the game. The score remained low for much of the first half, before Harford jumped out to a 14-7 lead. The Sea Devils fought back, but couldn't close the gap.Towards the end of the half, the Fighting Owls jumped out to a 10 point lead, and eventually took a 33-27 lead into halftime.

Harford continued to control the game for much of the second half, leading by 12 at one point. However, Cape Fear made a strong comeback with 14:40 remaining, going on an 20-0 run in roughly three minutes to take a 54-46 lead. They held a double-digit lead for the next couple of minutes until Harford tied the game at 63 with 6:12 remaining. The Sea Devils wouldn't let Harford take the lead; however, and came away the winners.

"Today was a frustrating game, but one we really needed," said head coach Ryan Mantlo. "I'm very proud of the guys for finding a way to win this game when things didn't go our way."

Matthews led the comeback, scoring 21 of his 23 points in the second half. Sophomore guard Jerick Haynes added 11 points and four steals, while freshman Donte Tatum had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Moving forward, coach Mantlo is excited for his players to head home and play a home game after so many on the road.

"It will be nice to finally play a home game this week. Our guys will be pumped."

Cape Fear improves to 5-5 on the season. They play next on Wednesday, December 6th, where they will take on Wake Tech Community College at 6:00 p.m.

Courtesy of Nick Denning