Men's Hoops Nipped by Babson, 72-68

NEWTON, Mass. (11/19/13) – The Lasell College men's basketball dropped a narrow 72-68 result to visiting Babson College on Tuesday evening. The Lasers dropped to 0-2 on the season with the loss, while Babson remained perfect on the season at 3-0.

Brandon Ganesh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) led four Lasers in double figures with 16 points and four assists, while Richard O'Brien (Manchester, N.H.) chipped in 14 points, Clyde Niba (Atlanta, Ga.) finished with 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds and Sonny Mello (Fall River, Mass.) added 10 points and five caroms.

Babson's John Wickey (Manchester, N.H.) netted a game-high 28 points on 10-18 shooting from the floor including 3-7 from three and 5-8 from the charity stripe while also grabbing nine rebounds. Joey Flannery (Acton, Mass.) finished with 21 points for the visitors, Eric Dean (Gilford, N.H.) tallied a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds while Kenny Ross (Furlong, Pa.) dished out a game-high eight assists.

The Lasers rallied from eight points down in the final 2:02 of the game, using a pair of free throws from Ganesh followed by a Mello triple to cut the Babson lead to 69-66 with a minute for to play. Babson missed a jumper, and grabbed an offensive rebound, but a turnover by the Beavers opened the door for Lasell who cut the lead to one on a jumper by Mello with 12.8 to play.

Babson missed a pair of free throws, but Eric Dean grabbed an offensive board and was fouled with 7.8 to play. Dean made one out of two to push the Babson lead to two at 70-68, and the Lasers put the ball in Ganesh's hands. The senior guard pushed the ball up the floor, and was whistled for an offensive foul as he elevated for a potential game-tying finish in the paint with 3.2 seconds to play. Lasell fouled Wickey and the Babson post player knocked down a pair to put the game out of reach.

Babson possessed a 41-40 lead at the half, and the two squads traded baskets through the opening five minutes of action, with Lasell taking a two point lead at 49-47 with 14:20 left in the game. Babson the put together a 14-2 run over the next six minutes, keyed by five points from Flannery and seven from Wickey to take a 61-51 lead with 8:23 left in the contest.

Lasell held a slim lead on the glass, outrebounding Babson 38-35 on the contest, and took advantage of poor shooting from Babson at the free throw line as Babson was 13-28 to give them a chance down the stretch.

Babson will return to the court on Tuesday November 26^th, as they visit Becker College, while Lasell is back in action on Thursday November 21^st when they face-off with Rhode Island College in a 7:00 p.m. contest.