Men's Hoops Captures 96-65 GNAC Victory over Anna Maria

NEWTON, Mass. (1/09/14) – The Lasell College men's basketball team won their fourth straight contest, capturing a 96-65 Great Northeast Athletic Conference victory over visiting Anna Maria. The Lasers improved to 6-4 on the season and pushed their GNAC mark to 3-1 while the AMCats dropped to 3-8 for the campaign and 1-3 in league play.

Lasell shot 59.6% from the floor including a torrid 13-23 from three point land in the contest. Brandon Ganesh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) led the way with 30 points in 11-17 from the field and 5-8 from long range. Clyde Niba (Atlanta, Ga.) added 22 points and nine rebounds for the Lasers, while Richard O'Brien (Manchester, N.H.) and Jeremy Daniel handed out a season-high 13 assists.

Tyler Delorey (Worcester, Mass.) and Quantez Franklin (South Yarmouth, Mass.) were the only two players in double figures for Anna Maria, netting 13 and 11 respectively. Delorey finished 3-6 from behind the arc in the contest while Franklin grabbed a team-high five rebounds.

The two teams traded baskets in the early going as Anna Maria knotted the score at 11-11 on a driving finish by Hugh Daye (Worcester, Mass.) with 15:11 remaining in the opening half. The Lasers opened up some distance with a 10-2 run to take a 21-13 lead with just under 11 minutes left in the half. A trifecta by Delorey for Anna Maria cut the hosts advantage to seven at 27-20 with a little over eight minutes on the clock in the half, but the Lasers opened up the margin again. Back-to-back triples by Niba and Angel Ortiz (East Lyme, Conn.) made it 33-20 and then a personal 7-0 run by the Lasers' Ganesh made it 40-20 with four minutes remaining in the opening half.

Anna Maria steadied themselves over the final four minutes, getting a pair of driving scores by Franklin to make it a 47-27 score at the half.

Lasell scored the opening two baskets to start the second half and the margin was never closer than 21 the rest of the way.

The Anna Maria will host GNAC foe St. Joseph's College (Maine) on Saturday January 11^th at 3:00 p.m. before a two game road swing to visit Albertus Magnus and Emmanuel for two more conference tilts. The Lasers will play host to Mount Ida in a GNAC matchup on Saturday January 11^th at 3:00 p.m. followed by a home rematch with Johnson and Wales University on Wednesday January 15^th at 7:00 p.m.