SAINTS PUSH PAST CADETS, 68-64

BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College Saints snuck past the visiting Cadets of Norwich University, 68-64, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball action played in the Jean Yawkey Center on Tuesday night.  The Saints used the win to improve to 8-12 on the season and 6-8 in league play.  Emmanuel now holds sole control of the fifth spot in the conference standings, after winning four of the last five games.  After defeating Emmanuel up in Vermont earlier in the season, the Cadets now fall to 7-14 overall and 4-11 in GNAC action with the rematch loss.

The Cadets started out strong, jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead, backed by a pair of hoops from Mike Hogervorst (Leiden, Netherlands), forcing an early Emmanuel timeout with 17:40 on the clock.  With Norwich holding a 10-1 lead, the Saints would net their first field goal of the night, which came five minutes into the action, off of a turn-around in the lane from sophomore forward Aidan Hadley (Owls Head, Maine).

Following a Norwich timeout, junior guard Alex Preckol (Westford, Mass.) buried his second three-ball to put the visitors out in front, 18-9.  Junior captain John Clay (Westport, Mass.) would answer at the opposite end for the Saints and Emmanuel trailed, 20-12, at the ten-minute mark.  Clay's hoop would spark a 13-4 Emmanuel run and the hosts found themselves down just one at 24-23, after consecutive buckets from junior center Kyle Davis (Groveland, Mass.).

A runner in the lane from Alex Minetti (Wakefield, R.I.) ended a 7-2 run by Norwich and the Saints trailed, 31-27, with four minutes to go in the half.  A mid-range jumper from Hadley and a put-back from Matt Raine (Miami, Fla.) sandwiched a free throw by Julian Diggs (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and EC took over its first lead of the night, up 32-31.  The Cadets got one final freebie from sophomore center Josh Evans (Grafton, Mass.), which would knot the game at 32-all, heading into the locker room at halftime.

Clay's eight points led the Saints at the break, as he knocked down all three of his first-half field goal attempts.  Hogervorst and Preckol led Norwich with eight points apiece.  The sharp-shooting Cadets shot 57.1% (12-21) in the opening half of play, but were out-rebounded 18-10 and turned the ball over 10 times.

The Saints built their first double-figure lead coming out of the break, following hoops in the key from Raine and Hadley, to take a 47-37 advantage and Norwich signaled for a timeout with 12:36 left to play.  After being held to just two field goals for nearly ten minutes of second half action, the Cadets got a pull-up from Evan Tuller (Chelsea, Vt.) to set the score at 49-39.

Clay drained a deep three from the left side to extend the Emmanuel lead to twelve, 54-42, and Norwich was forced to call another timeout with 8:50 remaining.

Out of the timeout, Norwich hoops from Tuller and Ryan Booth (Northfield, Vt.) slashed the Cadets' deficit back to single digits, down 56-48, and it was Emmanuel signaling for the timeout.  A steal, followed by a transition bucket from Zygimantas Sirvydas (Silale, Lithuania) would make it an 8-2 Norwich run and the Cadets trailed by six, 56-50.

As the shot-clock expired, Emmanuel's sophomore guard Tyler Russ (Stratham, N.H.) stuck a trey to extend the Saints' lead back into double digits at 60-50 with 3:24 to go.  Booth hit a put-back and Hogervorst dropped a pair from the line to make it a six-point game with 1:56 on the clock.

The two squads exchanged hoops at each end and Norwich called for its fifth timeout, down 62-56 with 1:20 remaining.  Junior guard Garry Gladden (Boynton Beach, Fla.) sunk a baseline three to make it a five-point game at 66-61 with 25 ticks on the clock.  With Norwich forced to foul, the Saints connected on just enough of their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 68-64 win.

Hadley paced the Saints, finishing just shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds and a pair of steals.  Clay was Emmanuel's only other double-figure scorer with 13 points and six rebounds.  Senior guard Jordan DeMario (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) dished out five assists in the win for the Saints.

Tuller led four double-figure scorers for the Cadets with his game-high 14 points, coming off of 6-10 shooting.  He also managed nine rebounds, four assists and three blocks shots in his 26 minutes of action.  Sirvydas and Preckol finished with 11 points apiece, while Hogervorst added 10 points and five boards in the effort for Norwich.

Emmanuel is back in action on Thursday, February 12th, when the Saints travel to Anna Maria College for a 7:00 PM make-up contest with the AMCats.  Norwich is off until Saturday, February 14th, when they take on the Raiders at Rivier University in another GNAC battle.