Lopez Reaches Milestone In Ranger Setback

HOBOKEN, N.J. - Chris Lopez joined Drew's 1,000 point club by scoring 25 points, but the Rangers still lost at Stevens 77-64.  Lopez entered the game needing 12 points to become 17th player in Drew's history to reach the plateau.  Tim Williams led the Ducks with 22 points. Four other Ducks reached double figures while David Cramer added 15 points for the Rangers.

Drew trailed 33-24 at the half after the Ducks shot the ball inordinately well, hitting 12-23 shots from the field.  The Rangers played well, too, but were not consistent enough from long range to keep up, hitting just 4-13 while making 10-23 from the field.  The Ducks also held a large rebounding advantage over Drew, grabbing 35 to the Rangers 20 over the course of the game.  Lopez broke into the 1,000 point club with 5:18 left in the half as he drilled a three to put Drew up 20-18.  David Cramer had scored ten points up to this point to help keep the Rangers in the game along with Lopez.  The Ducks closed the half on a 12-0 run that proved decisive. 

Stevens opened the half with four more points to put the game away as Drew's stellar shooting, 14-24 from the field, was offset by the Ducks' 15-29 performance.  The Rangers kept the game around 12 to 10 points, but they were never able to get with single figures again. 

As for Lopez, he has twice been a second team all-conference performer while being one of the top all around players.  The Staten Island native is having his best season this year, posting a 16.7 scoring average while grabbing 6.7 rebounds, prior to tonight's contest.  In his freshman year, Lopez made an instant impact as a quality role player scoring 6.1 ppg.  As a sophomore he scored 12.4 and recorded 5.3 rebounds while adding thefts to his repertoire with 1.3 a game.  Last season, he had 11.7, 5.3 and 1.6.