Blazing hot Dragons win fourth and fifth straight | The Triangle

Blazing hot Dragons win fourth and fifth straight


Drexel junior guard Chris Fouch dribbles the ball around the three-point line, while being defended by George Mason redshirt sophomore guard Sherrod Wright during the Dragons 60-53 win over the Patriots at the DAC Jan. 12. Fouch scored six points in 13 minutes.

One more win.

That’s right, one more consecutive victory and the Drexel men’s basketball team will have six successive victories, which would tie their season high set just a few weeks ago, way back in the year 2011 when they defeated St. Francis University (Pa.) at home 63-42.

Most recently, the Dragons’ five-game win streak has been extremely more impactful than the preceding streak, as all five victories have come against Colonial Athletic Association opponents, beginning with a record-setting defensive victory over the lowly Towson Tigers Jan. 4.

Drexel (13-5, 5-2 CAA) was heading into its last two games against the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (7-10, 3-4 CAA) and Hofstra University (6-13, 0-7 CAA), respectively, coming off a huge victory over the conference’s first-place team, the George Mason University Patriots (14-5, 6-1 CAA) and looking to continue that momentum without breaking stride.

The Dragons started off strong against the Seahawks as junior guard Derrick Thomas led the charge with a team- and season-high 19 points en route to the 79-57 victory in Wilmington, N.C. Jan. 14. There were also two other Dragons in double digits: senior forward Samme Givens (15 points, six rebounds) and freshman guard Damion Lee (14 points). The Dragons performed well on the boards as usual, outrebounding UNCW 35-25. The surprising statistic came with the Dragons’ shooting performance, which is usually in the high 30- to low 40-percent range. On this night though, the Dragons shot 52.7 percent from the floor and hit 87.5 percent of their free throws.

Next up for head coach Bruiser Flint and company would be the struggling Hofstra Pride, who were winless in conference matchups heading into the game in Hempstead, N.Y. Jan 18. The Pride would remain winless, but not without putting a scare into the surging Dragons. Sophomore point guard Frantz Massenat led Drexel to the 56-50 victory over the Pride with a good all-around performance, posting a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) while also dishing out six assists and blocking two shots. The 6-foot-4 floor general was also helped out by the Dragons’ spark off the bench in junior guard Chris Fouch, who netted 13 in the winning effort. The story of the game was poor shooting on both sides, but the Dragons were able to get the better of the Pride down the stretch as they hit their free throws late.

Up next for Drexel, now tied for third place in the conference with Georgia State University and Northeastern University, will be a Jan. 21 home game against those same Huskies (9-8, 5-2 CAA) as the Dragons try to tie their season high with six straight victories. Once they complete that contest, the Dragons head to the road once more as they travel to The College of William & Mary (4-14, 2-4 CAA) for a brief road trip Jan. 23 before returning home for a matchup against Georgia State (13-5, 5-2 CAA) at the DAC Jan. 25. They will be facing a Panthers squad that handed them their second conference loss of the season Jan. 2 in Atlanta, as the Dragons look to avenge one of their two CAA losses.