Men's Hoops Heading to ECAC Championship with 87-83 Victory over Nichols

Providence, R.I. (3/8/14) – The fifth seeded Lasell College men's basketball team advanced to the New England ECAC Championship game on Saturday afternoon with an 87-83 victory over the top-seed Nichols College. The Lasers improved to 18-11 with the victory and will be heading to the ECAC Championship game for the first time in the program's history. Nichols dropped to 23-7 on the season with the loss, as the Lasers avenged a 91-83 home loss to the Bison in their season opener back on November 15^th.

Clyde Niba (Atlanta, Ga.) scored a career-high 35 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, posting his 15^th double-double of the season for Lasell. The sophomore forward made 13-24 shots including 5-10 from beyond the three point line and knocked down 4-6 from the free throw line.

"Clyde really played well for us today" said head coach Aaron Galletta, "he made big shots for us at key times. This was one of those games where his ability to score in a variety of ways was pivotal to our success."

Sonny Mello (Fall River, Mass.) finished with his first double-double of the season, chipping in 12 points and a season-high 11 rebounds for the Lasers and Angel Ortiz (East Lyme, Conn.) came off the bench to score 13 points. Junior guard Mike Vallone (Wallingford, Conn.) finished with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists for Lasell as the Lasers outrebounded Nichols 50-31 on the day.

Galletta was pleased with the play of Mello as well, "Sonny brought an unbelievable level of energy for us today. He kept balls alive on the board and converted chances on the offensive end. His effort helped us get some key second shots throughout the game."

Ryan Sheehan led the Bison with 27 points on an efficient 8-15 effort from the field, and 4-6 from three point land while converting all seven of his attempts from the free throw line. Gustave Koumare added 14 points off the bench for Nichols while Sam Horning chipped in 12 points and five steals.

Nichols ran out to an early 11-3 lead behind nine quick points from Sheehan but Lasell responded with a 14-4 run of their own to take a 17-15 lead on a Brandon Ganesh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) free throw with 10 minutes to play in the opening half. A pair of Sheehan three pointers sandwiching a pair of Joe Gallant layups sparked a 10-2 run by Nichols that left Lasell trailing 25-19 with 8:54 until intermission. The two teams would continue to trade baskets with Nichols as Lasell went in front 30-29, only to see Nichols come back with another 10-1 spurt that made it a 39-31 margin in the Bison's favor. Lasell used a 10-3 run to close the half, heading into the half trailing 42-41.

The back-and-forth pattern continued in the second half that featured nine lead changes and five ties through the first 13 minutes of action that saw Nichols take a 69-68 lead on a three point play by Sheehan with 6:32 left in the game. A Niba three pointer put Lasell in front 71-69 but a pair of Sheehan free throws tied the score at 71-71. Nichols countered jumpers by Mello and Niba with trifecta's from Sheehan and Jalen Hurst to take a 77-75 lead with 3:07 left in the game. Angel Ortiz fed a cutting Vallone for the game-tying layup and following a Lasell stop a pair of Niba free throws gave the Lasers a 79-77 lead.

Sam Horning was fouled and converted one of two from the line for the Bison but a jumper by Niba gave Lasell an 81-78 lead with 1:35 left in the contest. Horning again converted one of two from the stripe but Lasell got another layup from Vallone with 50 seconds to play following the Lasers 18^th offensive rebound of the night to make it an 83-79 lead. A Koumare layup with 44 seconds on the clock cut the Lasell lead to 83-81, but Angel Ortiz converted a pair from the line to make it 85-81. Another driving finish by Koumare made it 85-83 with only 11 seconds to play, and when Ortiz made one of two it opened the door for Nichols. A Horning triple was off the mark and Niba pulled in his 13^th board of the night and made one free throw to put the game away.

Lasell will take on Johnson and Wales University at 1:00 p.m. in the ECAC Championship game on Sunday afternoon. Faced with the prospect of taking on the second seeded Wildcats, Galletta said, "Johnson and Wales has provided a real challenge for us this year and I expect tomorrow to be no different. Just like today, we're going to need to play our best basketball to have a shot. Regardless, it's great for the GNAC to have two of its teams advance all the way to the final, and we're looking forward to going out and competing tomorrow".