NORTHFIELD, Vt. (1/29/13) – The Lasell College men's basketball team got back on the winning track defeating the Norwich University 72-59 on Wednesday night in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action. The victory was the 100th career victory for Lasell head coach Aaron Galletta who is in his eighth season at the helm of the program. Galletta has guided the Lasers to double figure victories in five of his first seven seasons, including two ECAC appearances and one GNAC Championship and NCAA tournament appearance. Lasell improved to 9-7 on the season and 6-4 in GNAC play while Norwich slipped to 4-14 overall and 2-9 in conference action.
Sophomore Clyde Niba (Atlanta, Ga.) totaled his seventh double-double of the season with 26 points and 16 rebounds to lead Lasell. Niba connected on 11 of 14 field goal attempts and hit three of four free-throw attempts to lead all scorers with 26 points. Senior Brandon Ganesh (West Palmn Beach, Fla.) contributed 16 points for the Lasers offense, while junior Jeremy Daniel (Bridgeport, Conn.) dished out a game-high nine assists.
Norwich junior Evan Tullar (Chelsea, Vt.) led the Cadets in both points, with 19, and rebounds, with six. Senior Nickolai Havoutis (Coral Glades, Fla.) chipped in with 14 points and a team-high five assists.
The two teams exchanged five lead changes and tied the score three times in the opening minutes of the first half. Neither team controlled the lead until the 10:22 mark, when a layup by Lasell's Angel Ortiz (East Lyme, Conn.) snapped a 10-10 tie and put the lead in the Lasers hands for good. A pair of free-throws by Ortiz almost three minutes later would put Lasell up by eight points.
Norwich would string together a three-pointer by Dennis Brooks (Bennington, Vt.) and a layup by Gary Gladden (Boynton Beach, Fla.) to come within three, 24-21, with 4:19 to play in the half, but Daniel responded with a three-pointer for Lasell on the next trip down the floor to open a six-point margin. The Lasers would lead by 11, 35-24, at halftime.
The Lasers used a 14-1 run in the first 5:36 of the second half to open a 24-point lead. The Lasers would lead by as many as 27 points in the following minutes. Norwich spent the remainder of the half digging their way back from the deficit.
The Cadets would hold the Lasers scoreless for a stretch of 2:25 in the final minutes of the game, and Tullar used that opportunity to net six straight points to cut Lasell's lead to 11, 70-59, with 32 seconds to play. Lasell's Richard O'Brien hit a layup with 18 ticks left to seal the final at 72-59.
Norwich shot 37.5 percent (24-64) from the floor over the course of the game, while the Lasers connected on 29-54 (53.7 percent) of field goal attempts.
The Cadets will continue their four-game GNAC home stand on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 3:00 p.m. against Rivier University. Lasell will return to the hardwood on Saturday February 1st when they travel to Emmanuel College for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off.