CALDWELL, N.J. -- Caldwell's season-opening tournament at the Newman Center is billed as the Caldwell Conference challenge, pitting the Cougars and their fellow CACC institution Dominican against East Coast Conference members Mercy and D'Youville. On Day 1, it was all CACC as sophomore Darnell Evans' (Amityville, N.Y.) 26 points and seven assists were both game-highs, classmates Moussa Ngom (Centreville, Va.) and Melvin Evans (Bronx, N.Y.) tossed in 12 each and 14 different Cougars scored in the 114-82 runaway win in the first round contest. 

Dominican dispatched D'Youville, 116-81, in the other game Friday.

The Cougars (1-0) jumped out to a 17-5 lead in the first six minutes of the game and still led by 12 at 22-10 with 12:39 left in the first half, but Mercy rallied to cut its deficit to two at 28-20 with 8:26 left before a late first half run, keyed by a three-pointer and two free throws by Darnell Evans and a three by freshman Jordan Summers (Bound Brook, N.J.) helped the hosts build a 53-40 halftime edge.

Mercy fought back again, shaving the CU lead to seven less than three minutes into the second half. But Caldwell turned up the pressure, eventually turning a 66-57 lead into an 89-60 bulge with a 23-3 run that effectively put the game away midway through the second.

Soph Derrick Bueno (Palisades Park, N.J.) was quietly efficient, scoring nine points and grabbing a team-best nine rebounds. Freshman Isaiah Philbert (Bronx, N.Y.) showed his range with three-of-four from behind the 3-point arc for nine points, and sophs Daniel Boateng (Woodbridge, N.J.) and Kirk Parsons (Newark, N.J.) had eight each as Caldwell improved to 12-0 all-time against the Mavericks.

Caldwell is back in action on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Newman Center in the back end of the classic format tournament against D'Youville in the first-ever matchup with the recent addition to the Division II ranks from Western New York.