Men’s Basketball: AMCATS Slip Past Cadets, 63-57

NORTHFIELD, Vt.—The Anna Maria College men's basketball team dealt host Norwich University a  63-57 loss on Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action.

With the loss, the Cadets fall to 5-16 overall and 3-11 in GNAC play, while the win boosts the AMCATS to 9-12 overall and 7-7 in league play.

Junior Evan Tullar (Chelsea, Vt.) netted a team-high 16 points for the Cadets. Senior Nickolai Havoutis (Coral Glades, Fla.) chipped in with 10 points and five assists, while freshman Josh Evans (Grafton, Mass.) and sophomore Gary Gladden (Boynton Beach, Fla.) both finished with five rebounds.

The AMCATS were led by Hugh Daye (Worcester, Mass.) with a game-high 17 points, nine of which he scored at the free-throw line. Kyle McKissick (Charlton, Mass.) added 10 points, while Daye and Quantez Franklin (West Yarmouth, Mass.) were equal on the boards with eight rebounds apiece.

The Cadets led for the first 6:18 of the game and held a six-point advantage following a jumper by Evans at the 15:25 mark, but the AMCATS took their first lead at 9-8 on a layup by Trevon Farley (Lawrence, Mass.). Havoutis was fouled on Norwich's next possession, and he hit both free-throws to put the lead back in Norwich's hands.

Norwich would push the advantage to five points with nine minutes still to play in the half, but the AMCATS hit back-to-back three-point baskets to reclaim the lead. Anna Maria would not trail for the rest of the half and took their largest lead of the frame on the last basket of the half, a jumper by Patrick Bradanese (Billerica, Mass.), which put Anna Maria up 31-23.

The AMCATS extended their lead to double-figures early in the second half, but the Cadets managed to come within five points following a free-throw by Havoutis with 7:13 still to play. Norwich would stay within 10 points of Anna Maria for almost three minutes, until Daye hit both ends of a set of free-throws to extend the AMCATS advantage to 11 points, 54-43. 

From there, Norwich would embark on a 9-3 run to again cut the AMCATS lead to single-digits. The Cadets trailed by five, 57-52, with 1:10 on the clock. Forced to foul for possession, the AMCATS were able to seven free-throws in the final minute of the game to pull away for the 63-54 win.

Norwich edged the AMCATS in points in the paint (30-28), but Anna Maria held advantages in points scored off turnovers (18-15), second-chance points (8-6), and fast-break points (10-0).

The Cadets hit 20 of 50 field goal attempts to total a 40.0 percent shooting percentage on the afternoon. The AMCATS hit 38.8 percent of their field goal attempts (38.8 percent).

Anna Maria will be back in action on Tuesday evening when they host Johnson and Wales at 7:00 p.m.