FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Seeds held true on Tuesday evening in the 2017 GNAC Men's Basketball Tournament Quartefinals, as top-seeded Albertus Magnus College, No. 2 Johnson & Wales University, No. 3 Lasell College and fourth-seeded Mount Ida College all earned victories to cement a spot in Thursday's semifinals.
Albertus will host Mount Ida and JWU will take on Lasell, with both contests tipping off at 7:00 PM.
#1 ALBERTUS 92, #8 ANNA MARIA 67
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Senior Shaquille Mitchell (Linden, N.J.) recorded a team-high 22 points to lead the Albertus Magnus College men's basketball team past visiting Anna Maria, 92-67, on Tuesday evening in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament Quarterfinals at "The Nest" inside the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Athletic Center.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Albertus Magnus controlled the opening seven minutes of the game as the Falcons took a 10-point lead over Anna Maria, 16-6, following a fast break layup from Ryan Pittman (Stratford, Conn.).
Anna Maria battled back to within eight at two different occassions, but at the 2:06 mark Jahmerikah Green-Younger (Norwalk, Conn.) hit the deep three to extend the hosts' lead to 16, 38-22. Anna Maria would head into halftime trailing the hosts by 17, 43-26.
Anna Maria started off the second half by cutting the Falcons' lead to within 16, 46-30, but soon after the Falcons would go on a short run and put the game away for good.
Anna Maria's closest threat of the game came at the 11:52 mark as David Jean-Louis hit a three to cut the lead to 18, 61-43.
FIRST HALF STATS
- Senior Grant Ellis (Newark, N.J.) led the hosts with 10 points while Jaqhawn Walters (Hartford, Conn.) collected all four of his assists in the first 20 minutes of play.
- Liam Pickett hit the only three for Anna Maria in the first as well as posted a team-high nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field.
- Albertus out-rebounded the visitors 29-17.
- Liam Pickett and Malik Forouzan went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line.
SECOND HALF STATS
- Walters picked up his 21st double-double of the season in the second half.
- The Falcons' bench posted 14 second half points, including seven points from Jahmerikah Green-Younger (Norwalk, Conn.).
- Mike Rapoza and Kenneth Graham posted a team-high seven points a piece for the visitors.
- Mitchell tallied 14 of his 22 points in the second half while shooting 5-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-7 from behind the arc.
FINAL STATS
- Along with his 22 points, Mitchell added a team-high four steals, three assists and two rebounds to his stat line.
- Junior Jaqhawn Walters (Hartford, Conn.) was the next Falcon to score in double-figures as the forward collected 16 points, 14 rebounds and four assists.
- Mike Rapoza and Liam Pickett both scored a team-high 13 points while Rapoza also posted 16 rebounds and an assist for the visitors.
- Albertus finished the game going 35-of-78 from the field and 10-of-28 from three point range including four three-pointers from Mitchell.
- The Falcons dominated on the glass posting 50 rebounds and 23 second chance points.
Courtesy of Albertus Magnus Athletics Communications.
#4 MOUNT IDA 91, #5 SAINT JOSEPH'S 83
NEWTON, Mass. – Mount Ida College men's basketball made history on Tuesday night by beating Saint Joseph's Maine 91-83 at Mount Ida Athletic Center for their first ever Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) playoff win, ending a sixteen year drought without a postseason victory.
Behind 18 points from captain Kevin Conner (Mansfield, Mass.), the fourth seeded Mustangs (17-9) advance to Thursday evening's GNAC semifinals, while #5 Saint Joseph's ends their season at 13-13 overall.
Conner led five players in double-figures for Mount Ida, who are now just one win away from tying the all-time program wins record, set in 2000-01. That was also the last Mount Ida team to secure a playoff victory, and winners of the only North Atlantic Conference (NAC) championship in program history.
The Monks did their best to prove the adage that it is difficult to beat a team three times in a year. They stormed back from a seven-point first half deficit and held a three point lead late in the period before back to back buckets by John Oliver (N. Babylon, N.Y.) put the Mustangs up 38-36 at the break.
A layup by Aaron Hall (Haverhill, Mass.), who led all players with 20 points and ten rebounds, gave the Monks a 49-46 lead, which Mount Ida reclaimed and extended to six on three-pointers by Ethan Dujon (Warwick, R.I.) and Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, Conn.).
That Mustang tandem scored 13 points apiece, while Jayson Clark (Austin, Texas) had 12 points and game-highs of seven assists and four steals.
Connor and Clark took over the scoring in the second half, and then Dujon made three straight layups to put the Mount Ida lead at a game-high of eight points, 74-66 with 5:55 to play, as he dueled with John Crawley (Fitchburg, Mass.) on several consecutive possesions.
Crawley matched Dujon with seven straight points to keep the Monks within shouting distance and ended the night with 16 points.
A turnaround jumper at the edge of the paint from Clark with under a minute to play kept Mount Ida up by six and put an exclamation point on the win.
Sophomore Dennis Ross (Portland, Maine) scored ten points and had a block and two assists in a starting role for the Mustangs, while Oliver and Errald Jordine (Stamford, Conn.) added seven points apiece.
The Monks saw Ian Mileikis (Auburn, Maine) score 14 points as they shot 70.8% from the field in the second half and 22-24 (91.7%) from the foul line for the game. Mario Nery (Bronx, N.Y.) added eight points and dished out five assists.
Up next on the bracket will be a date with top-seeded Albertus Magnus on Thursday night in New Haven, Connecticut. Game time is still to be determined, so stay with mountidamustangs.com for more information as the Mustangs continue their postseason run.
Courtesy of Mount Ida Athletics Communications.
#3 LASELL 76, #6 EMMANUEL 74
NEWTON, Mass. - The Lasell College men's basketball team surged ahead at the most important time in Tuesday night's Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) quarterfinal contest, scoring six points in the final two minutes for a 76-74 win over Emmanuel College in the Athletic Center.
Third-seeded Lasell improves to 18-8 on the season as junior Derek McMahon (Hatfield, Mass.) hit a three-pointer to win the game with 1:18 left in regulation. The sixth-seeded Saints finish the season 8-18.
Senior John Powell (Ashland, Mass.) led the Lasers with 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting. Junior Ryan Jones (Weymouth, Mass.) added 15, while senior Yordan Villalon (Miami, Fla.) scored 12 and added a game-high 18 rebounds. McMahon also reached double digits with 10 points, while leading Lasell with eight assists and three steals.
Junior Alex Minetti (Wakefield, R.I.) led the Saints with 14 points, while freshman Emmett Riddick (Middletown, Conn.) scored 13 and senior Julian Diggs (Upper Marlboro, Md.) added 12. Senior Matt Raine (Miami, Fla.) recorded six rebounds.
The teams traded baskets early in the first half, but Villalon's triple just past the three-minute marker broke a stretch of three consecutive ties to give Lasell a 9-6 lead. Riddick's jumper brought the Saints within one at 9-8, but Blair hit another three with 15:23 remaining as part of the Lasers' 8-2 run to take a six-point lead.
Powell hit a free throw just over two minutes later to give Lasell its largest lead of the game at seven points. Emmanuel turned that deficit into a two-point lead as Raine hit a jumper with 5:41 to play in the half as part of a ten-point run, while a three from Riddick 58 seconds later gave the visitors a five-point lead at 33-28.
Emmanuel scored six straight points before Jones closed the first half with a layup with 27 seconds remaining, bringing the Lasers within two. Villalon and Powell scored the first four points of the second half to give Lasell a two-point lead 39 seconds in, but neither team led by more than three until Riddick hit a pair of free throws with 12:15 left.
After Jones cut the Lasers' deficit to 58-57 with 10:37 left, the visitors scored 10 of the next 12 points in about a two-minute span before Diggs hit a layup 2:04 later to give Emmanuel a 68-59 lead, its largest of the game.
Powell scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half, including nine straight from the 9:28 to 6:01 markers to bring the Lasers within four. Lasell cut its deficit to just two on three separate occasions in the final stages as McMahon hit two free throws with 4:54 left and Powell laid in a pair of shots.
Powell found McMahon for the game-winning three from the wing with 77 seconds to play before a free throw with eight seconds left clinched the game. The Saints had a final chance to win the game with three seconds left, but Riddick's three fell short.
With the win, the Lasers advance to the GNAC semifinal round and will travel to Providence, R.I., to face the second-seeded Wildcats of Johnson & Wales University on Thursday, February 23 at 7:00 p.m.
#2 JWU 83, #7 SUFFOLK 68
PROVIDENCE, RI. – After dropping its last two games, the Johnson & Wales University men's basketball team got back on track Tuesday. A quick start sent the Wildcats to the GNAC Tournament semifinals as they defeated Suffolk 83-68.
Records:
Suffolk: 7-19
Johnson & Wales: 15-11
Statistical Leaders:
Anthony Jernigan (JWU): 23 points, 7 assists, 6 steals
Jarell Lawson (JWU): 17 points, 6 rebounds
Michael Hagopin (SU): 24 points, 4 rebounds
Of Note:
Suffolk wouldn't score for the first four minutes as the Wildcats jumped out to a 9-0 lead. Matt Madoian (North Kingstown, RI) knocked down a 3-pointer to push the lead to 34-17 and the Wildcats went into the locker room up 41-22 on a pair of Anthony Jernigan (East Hartford, Conn.) free throws. The Rams got the lead down to 13 (73-60) with 4:40 to play but couldn't complete the comeback.
Leading the Wildcats in scoring was Jernigan as he poured in 23 points and produced seven assists and six steals. Jarell Lawson (Providence, RI) was right behind with 17 points and a team-high six rebounds. Madoian was the third Wildcat in double figures with 11 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists.
Suffolk's Michael Hagopin led all scorers with 24 points, including 5-6 from 3-point range. Thomas Duffy was next with 14 points and Jim Djema followed with 12 points and eight assists.
Both teams shot well in all three phases of the games. The Wildcats were 50.9 percent from the floor, 47.8 percent from 3-point range and 93.3 percent from the charity strip. Suffolk went 46.8 percent, 50 percent and 88.2 percent, respectively.
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