Newton, MA - The Lasell men's basketball team hosted a GNAC quarterfinal match on Tuesday night against the Bulldogs of Dean College.
The Bulldogs who defeated Anna Maria Monday night 89-87 in the #7 vs #10 Play-In Game, had a quick turnaround and visited the #2 seed Lasers Tuesday. In their regular season matchup, the Lasers defeated the Bulldogs at home 87-78 on January 21st and looked to repeat the same result.
The game started with empty possessions for both teams before Marcus Lewis from the top of the key banged in the first points of the game exciting the home crowd. This was quickly met the next trip down the floor by the Bulldogs who hit a three of their own. Esmer Madesko then hit a three in the corner making it a 6-3 Laser advantage. The Lasers would hold an 8-7 lead into the first media timeout. Out of the media, Marcus Lewis found back-to-back buckets getting an offensive putback on the second off a broken possession and opening the lead to 5. Che Hanks then got in on the scoring, stopping in the lane and banking a midrange jumper. A Karim Belhouchet three in the corner then made it 17-8 Lasers, capping a 9-1 Laser burst. Dean then closed that gap with a 7-2 sprint but over the next stretch of game time the Lasers opened up the lead to 15 behind a flurry of threes from Conan McCusker. Coming off the bench, he nailed his first two long balls in quick succession boosting the lead to 12. A few minutes later, another three from McCusker and a fastbreak layup saw the Lasers capture a 34-19 edge. Dean would get the game back under 10 on a few occassions but the Lasers continued to be blistering hot from three-point range, netting 9 first half triples and taking a 47-36 lead into halftime behind 14 points from McCusker and 12 from Lewis.
On the opening possession of the second half the Lasers got a second chance bucket in the form of a Che Hanks midrange jumper. Dean then pursued to put pressure on the Lasers rattling off eight straight and bringing the game to within 5, 49-44. Pulling back to within two possessions, the Bulldogs hung tight for a while making it tough for the Lasers to pull away. Going into the under-twelve media timeout, the Lasers led by 5, but out of the break they found three straight buckets seeing the lead climb to double-figures once again. It was once again a short-lived lead for the Lasers though, as the Bulldogs pulled back to within 4, 69-65 in the following minutes. At the 4:04 mark Dean once again had made it two possession game 76-81. Andy Madesko then found his way to the line hitting both free throws, and his brother got a bucket inside to go the following trip making it a 9-point Laser lead with 3:07 on the clock. As Dean tried to make one final push, Marcus Lewis fired off a three that banked in which was followed by a Che Hanks drive and score, effectively acting as the dagger going up 90-79. Dean's attempts to play the foul game did not work as the Lasers put in 7 of their final 8 free throw attempts, securing the 97-85 victory.
At the 13:16 mark in the second half, Marcus Lewis' jumper put him past the 1,000 point threshold. He becomes the 17th men's basketball player to accomplish this feat. This was en route to a 30 point 10 rebound outting for Lewis, which makes it his seventh double-double on the year. Che Hanks and Esmer Madesko also were effective all night offensively as they each tallied 18 points. While Conan McCusker didn't score in the second half, his 14 first half points fueled the Lasers early run as he went a perfect 5/5 from the field including 4/4 from behind the arc.
Up Next - The Lasers earn another home playoff game set for Thursday evening versus the Blue Jays of Saint Joseph Connecticut, tipping of at 7 PM in the AC.