O’Connor Nets 1,000th; Lifts Emerson Past Saints, 79-75

THE BASICS 

Score:             
Emmanuel College, 79; Emerson College, 75
Records:         
Emmanuel College Saints (7-2, 0-0 GNAC)
Emerson College Lions (5-3, 0-0 NEWMAC)
Location:         
Boston, Mass. – Andy Yosinoff Court
Date:               
Thursday, December 5, 2019

THE LEAD:  Emerson College senior guard Jack O'Connor (Newport, R.I.) scored 22 points including the 1,000^th of his career to lift the Lions to a 79-75 road victory over Emmanuel College on Thursday evening on the Andy Yosinoff Court.

HOW IT HAPPENED  

• Emmanuel jumped out to an early seven-point lead following a triple by sophomore guard Giovanni Ciampa (Tewksbury, Mass.) to make it 15-8.
• Over the next six minutes of play, the Lions outscored the hosts with a 13-5 spurt to pull ahead 21-20 on a layup by sophomore guard Zach Waterhouse (Hampton, N.H.).
• The Saints closed the half strong, building a 44-36 lead heading into halftime in which they held the Lions to just 11.1% from behind the stripe in the stanza.
• Emerson regrouped and pulled ahead for good just five minutes into the second stanza on a jumper by O'Connor to give the Lions a 54-53 cushion at the time.
• The visitors led by as many as 10 (71-61) with 8:46 to play but the Saints continued to battle and made it a one possession game on a layup by senior guard Emmett Riddick (Middletown, Conn.) to pull the score to 75-73 with 1:40 left in regulation.
• Waterhouse answered on the next Lions possession with a jumper to move the score to 77-73 before EC graduate student Dan Flaherty (Warwick, R.I.) scored with 24 seconds to play to once again make it a single possession score at 77-75.
• On the ensuing possession, the Saints played four seconds of strong back court defense which forced Emerson to spend a timeout and after the break Emmanuel was forced to foul to regain possession. Emerson sophomore guard Trevor McLean (Boston, Mass.) calmly knocked down both freebies in a one-and-one bonus to put the Lions up 79-75 with 17 seconds to play.
• The squads traded turnovers before a missed three at the buzzer by the Saints accounted for the 79-75 final, snapping Emmanuel's five-game winning streak.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

• Riddick led all scorers with a game-high 28 points and also added six rebounds.
• O'Connor needed just eight points to reach his 1,000^th and tallied the milestone in the first half, ending the evening with a team-best 22 points to go along with seven boards.
• Waterhouse added 20 points and eight rebounds while sophomore center Jarred Houston (Norwood, Mass.) chipped in with 19 points and game-high 12 rebounds for a double-double.
• Emmanuel junior Marcus Fox (Danbury, Conn.) also posted a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds while junior Zachary Crisafulli (Easthampton, Mass.) was also in double-figures with 15 points.
• Emerson improves to 22-9 all-time over the Saints and has now won the last seven meetings between the two programs.

UP NEXT

• The Saints close out the first semester on Tuesday, December 10 when they play host to Pine Manor College at 5:00 PM.
• Emerson returns to action on Saturday, December 7 for a home contest against #14 Amherst College at 2:00 PM.