Men's Hoops Suffers Near Miss Against Keene State

Newton, Mass. (01/03/2013) - The Lasell College men's basketball team put together an outstanding effort in their first game in 2013, before ultimately falling 73-63 against Keene State. The win was the fourth in the last five games for the visiting Owls, who improved to 7-4 on the season. Lasell, who was playing for the first time since the passing of senior captain Sean Bertanza (Seymour, Conn.), fell to 1-9 overall with the loss.

Sophomore guard Angel Ortiz (East Lyme, Conn.) scored a career-high 15 points for Lasell, who also got 12 points apiece from Brandon Ganesh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Rob Roy (Dover, N.H.). Ganesh collected a team-high eight rebounds on the evening.

Senior Anthony Mariano (Naugatuck, Conn.) scored a game high 21 points and tied his career high with 11 rebounds to pace Keene State, who also placed sophomore Tom Doyle (Wallingford, Conn.) in double figures with 14 points.

The visiting Owls shot 25-40 from the free throw line, while holding a 51-35 advantage on the glass to offset one of their worst shooting performances of the season to pull out the close victory.

The hosts hung tough early in the contest, falling behind by as many as seven on two occasions in the first half. Trailing 21-14, Lasell went on a 9-0 run to take a 23-21 lead with seven minutes to play in the opening 20 minutes. Keene State rallied back and took a 38-35 lead into the intermission.

Trailing 46-44 with 16 minutes to play in the game the Lasers used four consecutive three point field goals, a pair each from Roy and Ortiz, to lead 56-50 with 13:48 remaining. The Owls responded with a 6-0 run, tying the game at 56-56 with just over 10 minutes to play. The Lasers would again build a five point edge at 61-56 thanks to the third triple of the half by Ortiz and a driving reverse by Jeremy Daniel (Bridgeport, Conn.).

Keene State came storming back again scoring six straight before Daniel gave the Lasers their final lead of the night at 63-62 with just over three minutes to play. The hosts picked an inopportune time to hit a cold spell, as Keene used back-to-back layups to go ahead 66-63. Lasell was unable to answer, and the visitors closed out the contest at the free throw line.

Lasell will be back on the hardwood on Saturday January 5th when they travel to Rivier University for a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest.