Men's Basketball Uses Second Half Burst to Defeat Norwich 91-70

NEWTON, Mass. (12/3/13) - The Lasell College men's basketball team earned their second victory of the season on Tuesday evening, knocking off Norwich University 91-70 in the first Great Northeast Athletic Conference game of the season for both teams. The Lasers improved to 2-3, 1-0 GNAC on the season with the win, while Norwich fell to 1-4, 0-1 GNAC for the year. 

Clyde Niba (Atlanta, Ga.) led the Lasers with 24 points and six boards in 25 minutes of play. Lasell's Richard O'Brien (Manchester, N.H.) chipped into the victory with 17 points on 4-5 shooting from three point land while going 5-6 at the line. Jeremy Daniel (Bridgeport, Conn.) and Sonny Mello (Fall River, Mass.) each netted seven points, while Daniel finished with a game-high 12 assists.

The Cadets were led by Tom McDonald (Groton, Mass.) with 30 points and 9 rebounds, shooting 10-18 from the field and 4-4 from the free throw line. Forward Evan Tullar (Chelsea, Vt.) also reached double digits with 11 points in his 19 minutes of play.

Lasell used a 10-2 run to break open a 7-7 tie as the hosts built a 17-9 lead just over five minutes into the contest. Norwich answered with a 13-0 spurt helped by eight points from McDonald to take a 22-17 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half. A Lasers basket momentarily halted the visitors, by McDonald drilled his third straight triple to give Norwich a 25-19 edge. Clyde Niba knocked down back-to-back three pointers for Lasers, tying the game at 25-25 and when Jeremy Daniel converted a layup of a Norwich turnover the hosts went in front 27-25.Lasell closed the half with a 15-6 run, taking a 42-31 lead into the intermission.

Lasell came out of the locker room firing using a 20-5 run in the opening five minutes of the first half to build a 62-36 advantage. O' Brien sandwiched a pair of three pointers around a four-point play in the run for the Lasers that was capped by a Jeremy Daniel trifecta. Lasell saw their lead climb to 80-50 with just under nine minutes remaining and the Cadets would get no closer than 16 the rest of the way in the 91-70 victory for the Lasers. 

The Lasers will return to the court with a road match on Thursday, Dec. 5th against Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) at 7:00 p.m., while Norwich heads home for the Hockenbury Classic Tournament against the University of Maine- Augusta on Saturday, Dec. 7th for a 6:00 p.m. tip-off.