Men’s Basketball Falls to Becker College, 68-54

Paxton, Mass. – The Anna Maria College men's basketball team suffered a 68-54 defeat to Becker College in non-conference action on Thursday evening at the Fuller Activities Center. With the loss the AMCATS dip to 1-2, while the Hawks move to 2-1.

AMCAT junior Hugh Daye (Worcester, Mass.) tallied a team-high 20 points on 8-for-23 shooting and a game-high six assists while three teammates contributed six points apiece. Senior Joseph Barillo (Dania Beach, Fla.) added three helpers to go with his half dozen and sophomore Patrick Bradanese (Billerica, Mass.) added a rebound. Sophomore Kyle McKissick (Charlton, Mass.) posted a career- high nine rebounds go along with his six off the bench.

The visitors were led by senior Tyler Roberson (Irvington, NJ) and junior Donovin Ford-Hayes (Windsor Locks, Conn.).  Both players notched a game-high 22points while Roberson added 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Sophomore Rashaun Liggon (Boston, Mass.) was the only player with double-digit rebounds, 10.

Anna Maria score the first three points of the game with a Quantez Franklin (South Yarmouth, Mass.) free-throw and a Daye jumper from the corner but the Hawks responded with a 9-0 run capped by a David Maturah (Windsor Locks, Conn.) lay in with 15:38 to play. Daye and Franklin would combine for the games next four points to cut the Becker lead to 9-7.

Ford-Hayes would hit a trey in the corner off a dish from Darius Sealy (Cambridge, Mass.) to thrust the scoreboard to a Becker 16-12 advantage and force and AMCAT timeout.  Anna Maria freshman Shaun Garner (Margate, Fla.) answered with the first basket out of the break to once again make it a 2-point game, 16-14 with 8:54 remaining in the first stanza.

Becker would go on a 9-1 run, to break the game open, over the next three minutes to push the score to 25-15. The teams traded baskets to close out the first half and Becker would hold a 35-25 lead heading into the lockerroom.

In the second half, Becker held on to its double-digit lead for most of the period. Daye would deliver a pair of passes, one to Bradanese behind the arc in the corner and to McKissick for a layup midway through the final period to cut the deficit to 43-35. It was too little too late for the AMCATS as Becker would pull away to the 68-54 final.

Becker held the edge in shooting percentage (39%-35%) and a slight advantage in rebounds (40-39).

The AMCATS are now off until Tuesday afternoon when they travel to Worcester, Mass. to play the Cougars of Clark University at 4:00pm. Becker is back in action on Saturday when they travel to Fitchburg State University for a 1:00pm tip-off.