Lasell Moves on to GNAC Semi Finals

Newton, MA- The top seeded Lasers were victorious in the quarter finals of the GNAC Men's Basketball Championship Tournament, defeating  #8 Norwich University, 67-59.   Lasell's Jose Guitian (Miami, FL) finished the game with an amazing triple-double, recording 25 points, pulling down 15 boards, and blocking an unprecedented 10 Cadet shots.  Norwich finishes the 2008-2009 season with a 7-19 record, while the Lasers move on to the GNAC semi-finals at the 18-8 mark.

Norwich's Joshua Cabrera (Providence, RI) scored first, laying in two points to put the visitors on the board.  Lasell's senior guard Junior Sainval (Miami, FL) responded shortly after with a three from the left wing to put the Lasers up, but Antonio Davis (Albany, NY) answered with a trifecta of his own to give the Cadets the edge.  A one handed breakaway dunk by Javon Williams (Mattapan, Mass.) tied the score up at 5-all, and the Lasers pushed for the next seven points, giving them a 14-7 lead, at 13:15.

The Cadets held in with the Lasers on 40% shooting from the field, whereas Lasell was not on target, shooting only 32% from the field and 17% from beyond the arc.  The Lasers largest lead came at 7:39 when Charles Horton (Worcester, Mass.) nailed a three off an inbounds play to widen the gap to 23-15. However, the pesky Cadets slowly created opportunities to close the game to within two points at 2:42 after freshman forward Robert Thurman (Edwards, CA) dunking off of a Lasell turnover.

Less than a minute later, Mike Filipek (Jericho, VT) hit a baseline jumper from just inside the arc to give the Cadets their first lead since 17:27.  In the remaining minute of the half, each team got two more attempts but did not connect, and Norwich landed on a 29-27 edge heading into the break.

Guitian layed in two points to tie the game for the third time in the opening seconds of the second.  Jaren Jeffcoat (Dallas, TX) added two more to the scoreboard for Norwich to give them their final lead possession, but their advantage did not last long.  Lasell went up 37-31 on a dribble penetrating lay-in by Kevin Richard (New Orleans, LA), followed by a good three-pointer and another bucket by Brad Caravoulias (Dracut, Mass.).  By 11:40, the Lasers were up by thirteen points, after Guitian tipped in his own rebound, nevertheless, the Cadets continued to push for a comeback.

At 10:44, Horton hit his second trey of the game and put the Lasers ahead 55-43.  After two minutes of back and forth turnovers and missed shots by both teams, Tim Fico (Monroe, Conn.) drained back-to-back three's, and a Filipek turnaround jumper in the key landed the Cadets within four points of Lasell.  At the four minute mark, the Cadets had closed the gap to just within a field goal of tying, at which point the Lasers went off on a 8-2 run to close the game, 67-59.

The Lasers finished the evening shooting just 35.6% from the field over the contest, but held a slight 48-42 rebounding advantage. Sainval and Caravoulias each finished with 12 points, and Williams added 10 boards in the winning effort.  For the Cadets, Filipek created a double-double on 12 points and 11 rebounds and Fico and Darell Marshall (Dallas, TX) each matched eight points with four assists.  Fico added six rebounds in the defeat.

Lasell will host the winner of the #5 Johnson & Wales/ #4 Emmanuel contest on Thursday, Febraury 26th at 7:00 p.m. in the GNAC semi-finals.  The winner of that contest will move onto the Championship game on Saturday, Feb 28th.