Lasers Take First Round Victory From Salve Regina

In the first round of the ECAC DIII New England men's basketball tournament the Lasers of Lasell College pulled out an 89-84 win over the Seahawks of Salve Regina.  The eight seeded Seahawks ended their 2008-2009 season with a 14-14 record, while the no. 1 Lasers (19-9) move onto the semi-finals on Saturday against no. 4 Becker College.

Lasell was on fire in the early going, coming out on a 12-2 run over the first three minutes.  Brad Caravoulias (Dracut, Mass.) ignited the Lasers with 14 points in seven minutes, extending the Lasers lead to twelve by the 13th minute.  However, the Seahawks whittled their way back into the game with a 9-0 stretch at 11:00, when Justin Woodworth (Ipswich, Mass.) knocked in five points for Salve, followed by buckets by Dan Royce (Mahwah, NJ) and Windell Hinkson (Groton, Conn.) at which point the Lasers held only a one point advantage. 

Lasell rebounded from the comeback after the trey by Junior Sainval (Miami, FL) stopped the Seahawks momentum, and Lasell proceeded to go up by as much as sixteen by the 3 minute mark.  Salve, though, finished out the first half by scoring the final 10 points and closing the gap to 49-43.

The Seahawks clawed their way back into the game early in the second, culminating in the first tied score at 15:17 when Hinkson layed in two points on a fast break opportunity.  The visitors capitalized on their comeback by pushing ahead to a 65-56 lead at 13:04 before Jose Guitian (Miami, FL) put in the Lasers first bucket in over three minutes.  The Blue and White pushed forward scoring the following nine points to go up by two, at 10:40.

The teams traded baskets for the better part of two minutes before the Lasers took the concluding lead after Kevin Richard (New Orleans, LA) created a steal and Guitian tipped in a bucket to go ahead.  Salve kept the game within just points after that, and tied the score once more at 83-all with three minutes left, however, the Lasers closed out the game by completing their free throws down the stretch.

Guitian shot 70% form the field and finished with 30 points and 12 rebounds for the hosts who shot 59% as a team.  Charles Horton (Worcester, Mass.) shot 100% on the evening for 10 points, and Corey Godfrey (Cambridge, Mass.) went 5-7 and contributed 11 points for Lasell.  Freshman forward Javon Williams (Mattapan, Mass.) had a near perfect night shooting going 5-5 in field goals, and 4-5 at the charity stripe to add 14 points.

Salve's senior guard Woodworth had a team best with 21 points in his final game for the Seahawks.  Hinkson finished with 19 points and four rebounds and Royce added 12 points, three blocks, and two assists. Jabreche Boyd (West Haven, Conn.) also reached double figures for the Seahawks with 10 points and three steals.

Lasell faces the Hawks of Becker College on Saturday in the ECAC tournament semi-finals.  The winner will earn the right to host the championship game on Sunday afternoon.