Caldwell College Men's Basketball Opens Season Friday

The Caldwell College men’s basketball opens its season Friday at 7 p.m. against Fairleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack.

Returning this year to the Cougars will be four starters from last season's team, which finished 8-20.

Home games will be played in the college's Rothman Center, and tickets are $10 for reserved seats and $7 for general admission.

The game will be the third consecutive contest against a Division I team for the Cougars, who played exhibition games against Rutgers University and Seton Hall University on Friday and Saturday last week. 

Friday night’s game at Fairleigh Dickinson will be the second time the two teams have played. Fairleigh Dickinson beat the Cougars in 1988 77-73 during Caldwell's inaugural season of men’s basketball.

Against Rutgers last week, junior forward Michael Balkovic recorded 13 points and 13 rebounds in a 90-60 defeat, while junior guard Wyatt Polk and sophomore forward Terik Bridgeman added 12 points each.

Balkovic, an all-Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference third-team selection in 2012-13, and Polk were the team’s two leading scorers last season, averaging 16.6 and 14.3 points per game, respectively.

Bridgeman is a transfer from William Paterson University, where he averaged 10.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per contest as a freshman.

In the Cougars’ 67-49 loss to Seton Hall, Polk and sophomore guard Dawan Lighty each scored 11 points to lead Caldwell. Lighty averaged 8.8 points per game as a freshman and was named the CACC Rookie of the Week twice.

The game against the Knights also will be a reunion of sorts for freshman forward Christian Owona and his brother, Mike Owona, a freshman center for FDU. The two natives of Cameroon will face each other in their first games as collegians.

The Cougars open their home schedule on Wednesday, Nov. 13, with a non-conference game against Mercy College in the George R. Newman Center.