Newton, Mass. (12/06/12) – The Lasell College men's basketball team suffered their second Great Northeast Athletic Conference defeat of the season, losing 75-65 to visiting Emerson College. The Lions improved to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in the league, while Lasell slides to 1-7 on the season and 0-2 in the GNAC.
Rob Watts (Lafayette, N.J.) scored a team-high 15 points for Lasell, with Sean Bertanza (Seymour, Conn.) and Arthur Alexander (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) each tallying 14 points. Bertanza snared a team-high seven rebounds, while Jeremy Daniel (Bridgeport, Conn.) handed out a game-high nine assists.
Brian Hurley (So. Boston, Mass.) and Jon Goldberg (Stowe, Vt.) each notched double-doubles for the visitors, Hurley with a game-best 16 points, 10 boards and six blocks, and Goldberg netting 11 points and a game-high 15 caroms. Patrick Lowndes (Granby, Conn.) and Michael Thorpe (Newton, Mass.) chipped in 15 and 11 points respectively.
Emerson opened up an early 13-7 lead through the game's first six and a half minutes behind six points from Lowndes and four from Hurley. Lasell climbed back out of the early hole behind a trio of three pointers from Arthur Alexander, to take a 22-18 lead with 8:54 to play in the opening half. Hurley answered with three consecutive baskets down low to put Emerson ahead 24-22 and ignite a run that sent the visitors into the break with a 39-22 lead.
Lasell opened the second half on a 14-6 run, cutting their deficit to 45-36 with 12:05 remaining in the game when Arthur Alexander drilled his fourth three pointer of the night. Emerson answered with a 9-2 run to push their advantage back to 16 points at 54-38.
Lasell would trim the lead to 10 on multiple occasions over the final 8:10 of the contest, but were unable to sustain a push to allow them to overtake Emerson. The Lions shot a torrid 55.1% from the floor compared to the Lasers 34.7%, and used a plus-16 edge on the glass to offset a 19-36 performance at the charity stripe.
Emerson will face St. Joseph's (Me.) on Saturday December 8th as they look for their third win in GNAC play. Lasell will close out their fall semester slate of games with a GNAC match-up against visiting Anna Maria on Saturday December 8th at 3 p.m.