Men's Basketball Falls Victim to #9 Amherst Surge

NEWTON, Mass. (2/4/14) – The Lasell College men's basketball team fell at home to 9^th ranked Amherst College, 95-74 on Tuesday night. The Lasers dipped to 10-8 on the season and the Lord Jeffs pushed their record to 18-3.

Lasell senior Brandon Ganesh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) led all scorers with 35 points, knocking down 11 of 20 shots from the floor, six of nine from deep and seven of eight from the free throw line. Clyde Niba (Atlanta, Ga.) added 25 points and eight rebounds for the Lasers while blocking a pair of shots. Rob Watts (Lafayette, N.J.) grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and converted three of four field goal attempts in his first start of the season.

Amherst senior guard Aaron Toomey (Greensboro, N.C.) fell one assist short of a triple-double, scoring 23 points on 6-12 shooting from the field, including a 3-6 effort from distance and a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe while snaring 10 rebounds and handing out nine assists. The Lord Jeffs got a team-high 24 points from Connor Green (Bedford, N.H.) who also grabbed eight rebounds and David Kalema (Burke, Va.) chipped in with 16 points. Amherst shot 11-25 from three point territory and 22-31 from the free throw line in the victory.

Lasell raced out to a 19-4 lead in the game's first four minutes of action, using three baskets by Niba in the paint and 11 points including a trio of three pointers by Ganesh to jump on top. A jumper and a three pointer by Niba gave the Lasers a 26-15 lead with 11:39 remaining in the first half but the Lord Jeffs would respond.

Connor Green started the visitors run with a trifecta and when Lasell was able to halt Amherst's momentum, the Lord Jeffs held a 42-29 edge with just over four minutes left in the half. Amherst's 27-3 run spanned seven and a half minutes included five three pointers and 11 points and three assists from Toomey.

Lasell used an 11-5 spurt to end the half, cutting their deficit to 47-40 heading into the intermission. Niba and Ganesh each had 18 points in the opening half for Lasell who went 6-11 from three point land to keep the Lasers in the contest, while Amherst knocked down 8-20 attempts from distance and grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in the opening 20 minutes of action.

Ganesh hit a three pointer to cut the Amherst lead to 47-43 and Lasell trailed 50-45 following a Rob Watts lay-up with 15:30 remaining but Amherst began to pull away. The visitors used a 13-5 run to go in front 63-50 with 12:14 on the clock, and Lasell was unable to bring their deficit back into single digits the rest of the way. The Lasers had the visitors lead to 11 on multiple occasions but Amherst managed to fend off their comeback efforts and ultimately collect the 95-74 victory.

Lasell will travel to Rivier University on Thursday February 6^th before returning home for a February 8^th match-up against Suffolk at 3:00 p.m.