SAINTS STOPPED SHORT IN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Feb. 28, 2008
Newton, MA - The 3rd-seeded Emmanuel Saints battled the 2nd-seeded Lasell Lasers for the full forty minutes before falling short in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's basketball semifinals on Thursday night. With Lasell's Laserdome packed to capacity, the nail-biter featured 8 lead changes and 8 ties before the Lasers came away with the 70-61 victory.
The host Lasers jumped out to an early lead and carried it for the opening seven minutes of the ball game. Emmanuel took its first advantage when freshman point guard J.P Ventura (Riva, MD) buried a three-pointer with thirteen minutes remaining in the half, putting the Saints up 13-10. With two free-throws by junior guard Rob Williams-Hinton (Oak Park, MI), followed by a Laser bucket in the paint, and a made lay-up by Emmanuel's junior forward Mack Spellman (Clinton, NY), the Saints extended their lead to five points, 17-12. This would prove to be Emmanuel's largest lead of the night, but the Saints were able to keep it close throughout the game.
Lasell regained the lead with seven minutes to play in the half on a made jumper by forward Jude Biton. The Lasers then went on a 6-0 run that spanned a three-minute stretch. Lasell took a two-point advantage into the break, 25-23.
The Lasers carried the momentum into the second half, hanging on to the lead until the eight-minute mark, when Williams-Hinton drove the lane and laid it in for the Saints. The two teams traded baskets until 3:51 when Lasell took the lead for good on a Biton lay-up.
For the Saints, Williams-Hinton led the way with 14 points. Spellman and senior forward Levi Smith (Tulsa, OK) netted 11 points apiece. Spellman also gathered a team-high 9 rebounds in the effort. Long-range shooting had been key for the Saints all season, but the team struggled from behind the arc tonight, connecting on just 4 of 17 attempts (23.5%). The Lasers out-rebounded the Saints, 40-37, but Emmanuel turned the ball over just 8 times on the night.
Lasell was led by junior forward Jose Guitian's (Miami, FL) 19 points and 11 boards. Senior Jaime Crawford (Coral Springs, FL) also had a solid performance, going 8 for 8 from the line and scoring 17 points, to go along with a team-high 12 rebounds. Junior Brad Caravoulias (Dracut, MA) had a clutch hot hand for the Lasers, going 4 for 6 from three-point land and netting 18 points on the night.
With this loss, Emmanuel fell to 17-10 on the season, while Lasell improved to 19-8. The Lasers will face the top-seeded Lions of Emerson College on the road Saturday afternoon (3/1) in the GNAC Championship. The winner of this game will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Emmanuel will wait to hear about the possibility of an ECAC tournament bid.