MBB: Lasers Get Past Johnson & Wales, 64-56
Providence, RI - The Lasers had their second straight road game going to visit the Wildcats of Johnson & Wales on Tuesday night.
The Lasers who lost their first conference game on Saturday looked to right the ship against the Wildcats. The Lasers captured a quick 4-0 lead behind two buckets from Marcus Lewis and Che Hanks. The Wildcats then responded with an 8-0 stint of their own putting the Lasers down 4. Following this, the two teams began to trade buckets and over the course of the next several minutes saw six lead changes between the teams. When the score stood at 19-20 with the Lasers down 1, an 8-2 push late in the half gave the Lasers their biggest lead of 5 to that point. The Wildcats did score twice more though to end the half and the Lasers took a 29-26 lead into the halftime break.
Opening up the second half, the tandem of Marcus Lewis and Esmer Madesko fueled the Laser's offense which allowed them to go on a 14-7 run and open up the first double-digit lead of the game 43-33. They would briefly catch leads of up to 13 but the Wildcats clawed back in getting the lead down to 6 with about six minutes to go. However, timely shot-making down the stretch by Marcus Lewis and some good defensive stops allowed them to put the game out of reach as they captured a 64-56 victory.
Lewis led all scorers on the evening with 27 points and knocked down 4 triples. Esmer Madesko (15) and Che Hanks (11) also added double-digit scoring performances for the Lasers. The Madesko brothers also controlled the glass for the entirety of the game with Esmer collecting 12 and Andy snagging 10 of his own.
Up Next - The Lasers will be back at home on Saturday facing off against the Monks of Saint Joseph (ME).
