MBB: Lasers Play in Daytona Beach Holiday Tournament

Daytona Beach, FL - Lasell took a trip south as they played in two matches versus Geneva and Concordia Colleges in Daytona Beach. 

Having been a number of years since the Lasers last went on a road trip like this, the opportunity was certainly a great one for the team. With the beginning of GNAC conference play right around the corner, the set of games was one last chance to face opponents to gear up for the second half of the season. 

In the first game of the trip, they squared off against the Geneva (PA) Golden Tornadoes who came into the game with a 4-6 season record. The early game saw a number of lead changes as at no point did either team lead by more than 4 going into the final minutes of the first half. With the score tied up at 30 with about 90 seconds left on the clock, however, Lasell rattled off a 7-0 burst. An and-one layup by Esmer Madesko followed by a steal and layup the next trip by Madesko gave the Lasers a five-point lead. Another great defensive possession followed as Marcus Lewis stole it away and with just a few seconds on the clock hit Andy Madesko for a fastbreak slam to end the half up 7. To start the second they pushed the lead to double digits with buckets from Marcus Lewis and Quinton Partee Jr. giving them an 11-point lead, 41-30. Geneva then found a run of their own though as over the next five minute span they outscored the Lasers 15-6 which narrowed the lead to 2, 47-45. Fast forward to the final minutes and Geneva held a slight 58-57 edge on the Lasers with a couple of minutes to go. The score got caught like this for over two minutes as neither team could find the basket. Under two minutes Geneva first scored a layup pushing their lead to 3. Marcus Lewis then followed up by making a layup of his own making it a 1-point game again. However, needing a stop to try and get the ball back for the final possession, a dagger 3-pointer by Geneva's Jonathan Bertovich with 11 seconds left put the game just out of reach as the Lasers fell 63-61. Four out of five starters for the Lasers scored in double figures as both Andy Madesko and Che Hanks had a team-high 13, with Esmer Madesko pouring in 11, and Quinton Partee Jr. adding 10 of his own. A big part of the loss was unfortunately the poor outside shooting for the Lasers as they went 1-13 from behind the arc which was a season low. 

The second game of the trip pitted Lasell against the Falcons of Concordia Wisconsin. Similar to the first matchup against Geneva, the game see-sawed back and forth for a good part of the first half. Around the 16-minute mark, Lasell held a 12-9 lead after a Quinton Partee layup. After this, the Falcons recaptured the lead on a quick 6-0 run putting the game at 15-12. Another short run followed by the Lasers who made it a 17-16 game on a jumper by Karim Belhouchet. This would be as close as Lasell would get to the Falcons for the remainder of the half however as they finished the last 10 minutes strong outscoring the Lasers 17-8 which put the Falcons at a 34-24 halftime lead. In the second half, the Lasers tried to keep the Falcons from gaining more of a lead and pulling away but couldn't pull the game closer. After going up by 17, 60-43, with just over 11 minutes left on the clock, the lead was too big for the Lasers to battle back from. They would fall by a final score of 81-61. Marcus Lewis led the way for the Lasers scoring column in this one posting 19 points and also contributing 9 boards. Karim Belhouchet was the only other Laser in double figures with 10 points. 

Up Next - The Lasers will have some time off before coming back after the new year and hosting Mitchell College on January 4th at the Athletic Center.