JANUARY 12, 2013

SAINTS, FALCONS MEN’S BASKETBALL GAME PREVIEW

3:00 PM, Jean Yawkey Center, Boston, Mass.

Setting the scene

The Emmanuel College Saints (3-9, 3-3) will be at home for the second game of a short home-stand to host the Albertus Magnus Falcons (11-1, 6-0) on Saturday. The Saints sit at 3-3 at home this season but will face their toughest test yet when the #19 Falcons come to town. The Saints are coming off an 81-77 win on Thursday over conference foe Lasell College, while the Falcons defeated Rivier University 76-66 on Thursday. The game is set for 3:00 PM inside the Jean Yawkey Center.

Match-up of the game

This is a no-brainer. Two of the top players in the conference will square off when Xavier Everson and Darius Watson meet on Saturday. Everson will enter the game averaging 17.4 points per-game, which is good for fourth in the GNAC. Everson is coming off a career best 26-point performance against Lasell on Thursday. As good as Everson has been, he still trails Watson, who leads the conference with 23.6 points per-game. Everson is an ideal match-up for the guard/forward combo Watson. Everson currently is in the top-10 in the conference in both blocks per-game and steals per-game.

"X" marks the spot

Xavier Everson, also known as "The X Man", has been Mr. Everything for the Saints this season. The senior captain is currently leading the team in minutes, points, blocks and steals per-game, while he is second on the team in rebounds per-game. If the Saints are going to pull off this huge upset, Everson will most likely have to top his 26-point, 12-rebound performance on Thursday.

Share the Wealth

The Saints will need a balanced scoring attack when facing the Falcons this Saturday.  Thursday night, when the Saints hosted Lasell, they had solid contributions across-the-board in the scoring department. Outside of Everson’s career-high 26-point effort, junior Theo Robinson led the way with an outstanding 22-point, 10-rebound night. He was helped out by Josh Welles, who has played extremely well recently, while filling in for the injured Mike Mailhot. Welles added 10 points with Rashad Dixon and Alex Myers combining for 15 points off the bench.