Men's Basketball Wins Third Straight, Downs Emmanuel 65-48

BOSTON, Mass. – The Anna Maria College men's basketball team topped Emmanuel College, 65-48, Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action in the Jean Yawkey Center.

The win is the third-straight for the AMCATS, who improve to 5-7 overall and 3-2 in GNAC action, while the loss drops the Saints to 4-8 and 2-4 in the GNAC.

Anna Maria Senior Quantez Franklin (South Yarmouth, Mass.) led all scorers with 22 points while junior guard Pat Brandanese (Billerica, Mass.) chipped in with 10 points.

EC jumped out to a 3-0 lead following a three from sophomore guard Kyle Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) but the AMCATS responded with a 6-0 spurt capped by a jumper from freshman forward Youssef Fodaile (Worcester, Mass.) to give the visitors the 6-3 advantage with just over 15 minutes remaining in the opening stanza.

An old fashion three-point play from junior center Kyle Davis (Groveland, Mass.) made it a two-point game as the Saints trailed 18-16 with 7:36 left in the half before Anna Maria reeled off a 13-2 run fueled by four points apiece from Fodaile and Franklin to make it 31-18 with 3:28 to play.

The Saints responded by outscoring the AMCATS 6-0 to close the half including a layup at the buzzer by freshman guard Josh Bushman (Hurst, Texas.) to pull the hosts to within six at the half, trailing 31-25 at the break.

Nineteen of the AMCATS' 31 first-half points were scored as a result of Emmanuel turnovers as Anna Maria forced EC into 16 first half turnovers. Smith led all scorers at the half with nine points while Franklin topped AMC with eight points.

After trading hoops to start the second frame, Anna Maria junior guard Tyler Delorey (Worcester, Mass.) drained a three from the baseline to bump the visitors lead to 38-29 with 15:56 left on the clock. Two possessions later, senior guard Corey Pryor (Northbridge, Mass.) connected on another triple to give the AMCATS a 43-31 lead.

EC sophomore guard Tyler Russ (Stratham, N.H.) drained a three of his own to make it 45-38 with under 12 minutes remaining and minutes later would keep the deficit at seven with a layup to cut the score to 47-40.

At the 6:32 mark, senior guard Michael Gorman (Methuen, Mass.) converted a triple from the top of the arc to put the visitor's lead back in double-figures at 52-41 and on the next possession, a layup by Franklin made it 54-42.

Another old fashion three-point play from Davis pulled the Saints to within single digits at 54-45 but strong free throw shooting down the stretch prevented any chance of a comeback as the AMCATS held on for the 65-48 victory.

Davis led the Saints with 13 points. The AMCATS held the Saints to a 35.7 percent effort from the floor (20-56), while shooting 42.9 percent on their own offensive end. Anna Maria held advantages in points off turnovers (30-6), points in the paint (36-24) and fast break points (10-6), while the Saints outscored the AMCATS 13-6 in second-chance points and 21-16 in bench points.

The Saints return to action on Wednesday, January 14 when they host No. 13 Albertus Magnus College at 7:30 p.m. while the AMCATS play the same night, hosting Mount Ida College at 6:00 p.m.