AMCATS Chased Down by Lions

BOSTON, Mass. - The Emerson Lions Men's Basketball Team hosted it's final regular season home game Saturday afternoon where they took on the Anna Maria AMCATS in one of their best performances of the season, coming out to AMC 68-45. While the offense was firing on all-cylinders, James Rhodes played the lynchpin for the squad as he drained 18 points going 7-12 on the day. The win pushes Emerson to 5-18 overall and 5-12 in the GNAC while Anna Maria falls to 10-13 on the year and 8-8 in the conference.

AMC's Brad Peterson (North Kingstown, RI) paced his team with a team-high 12 points and a game-high 8 rebounds. Seniors Anthony Click (Springfield, Mass) added 10 points and Kevin McGee (Springfield, Mass) poured in 7 points off the bench.

The Lions went to work starting the game with possession, but it was the AMCATS who struck first, as Anna Maria's Javier Bristol put up a lay up just under a minute into the game.

It didn't take long for Emerson to answer. After a successful shot and two-completed free throws, senior Nathan Firn put the Lions on top of the AMCATS 4-3. 

The Lions would claim the offensive show for the rest of the first half with help from Bilali Kaililou-Mack with nine points, as well as Nathan Firn and Eli Kell-Abrams with seven points each. Although Emerson's offense claimed the spot light for the first half, the defense held the AmCats to a mere 33 percent in field goals, as well forcing a 0-9 completion from behind the 3-point line as the Lions rolled into the locker room up 33-20 at the break.

Coming out of the break, the Lions put their foot on the gas and never looked back as they increased their lead to 18 points within the first 10 minutes to spark up the second half. Rhodes continued his scoring success, recording eight more points in just two minutes of play accelerating him to the top of both the Lions and the game in points scored. Rhodes would end the day with a total of 18 points; 12 points coming in the second half.

The rest of the game mimicked Rhodes' scoring habits with the Lions putting up an additional 35 points in the second half adding to the 33 points recorded in the first. EC kept the pressure on, as the D cranked up with Eric Helfman jumping in to dog the AMCATS with some defense that forced a turnover before putting in a layup under pressure to stamp the win for the Lions.

The AMCATS will continue their season as they travel to Norwich to face the Cadets for a Valentine's Day match up. Game time scheduled to start at 7pm.

Photo credit Lynette Colome