MBB: Belhouchet's Second Half Powers Lasers Past Mariners

Newton, MA - The Lasers hosted the Mariners of Mitchell College to open up the New Year on Saturday. 

Both Mitchell (8-3) and Lasell (7-4) came into the matchup with positive records and looked to add their first win in GNAC conference play. In the early going, Marcus Lewis hit a 3 from the corner to give the Lasers a 3-2 lead. There was a lot of exchanging baskets as the game had several lead changes and ties throughout the first. Seesawing back and forth, the Mariners and Lasers continued to exchange buckets going up 2 or 3 and matching it on the following possession. At the 8-minute mark, the game was once again tied, this time at 25 a piece. After a few minutes of stagnant scoring, a layup by Marcus Lewis on the break tied the game 27-27. Then on a broken possession, the ball found Esmer Madesko who got his own board under the hoop scored a putback layup finished through the foul, and completed a 3-point play, giving Lasell its first lead since the 13-minute mark. A fast break layup from Daniel Edmunds followed shortly after, which gave Lasell its biggest lead of 5 to this point, 36-31. Adding to their run Cameron Foster-Martez dished it to Esmer Madesko who had another 3-point play and extended the Laser lead to 8. Going into the break the Lasers led 40-31. 

To open the second half a nice half-court set, found Karim Belhouchet with a corner 3 which pushed the Laser lead to double figures for the first time. Belhouchet then got hot, scoring 10 of the Lasers' next 13 points. With the Lasers continuing to push the pace in transition, they kept finding Belhouchet and others, growing the lead to as much as 20 in the second half. Holding a lead of at least 15 points for the remaining 12 minutes, the Lasers were not threatened with any runs and coasted to a 91-78 win. 

Karim Belhouchet led the Lasers in scoring for the first time this season with 26 points on the day, with 21 of them coming in the second period. Esmer Madesko also joined him in the 20-point scoring, putting in 20 points along with 10 assists. Marcus Lewis also had a double-double on the night contributing 17 points along with a game-high 10 rebounds. Daniel Edmonds was the fourth Laser in double figures putting up a season-high 13. 

Up Next - The Lasers will also face off against Colby Sawyer on the road on Tuesday night following the women's game.