The Emerson men’s basketball team fell to the Salve Regina University Seahawks Thursday, 80-66, losing their third straight NEWMAC contest and marking their seventh defeat in their last eight games.
The Lions and Seahawks engaged in a back-and-forth start, as Salve Regina buried a three at the 14:29 mark for a 10-9 lead. The Seahawks then flew out to a 10-point lead following a layup with 11:10 left. Senior guard Lucas Brenner gave the Lions life, making a three with under seven minutes left to make it a 23-14 ball game. Sophomore forward Sam Ndu converted a layup to bring the deficit to seven with 5:46 remaining, forcing the Seahawks to regroup with a timeout.
Sophomore guard Ray Allen III drilled a three with 5:23 left to keep Emerson within striking distance at 25-19. After another Seahawk layup, Brenner buried his second three of the game to put Emerson down five, 27-22, with 4:30 left. He eventually canned his fourth three of the half at the 3:35 mark, which got the Lions within two, to make it 30-28 with 3:35 remaining.
Sophomore forward Guillermo Gasset-Ruiz’s crafty crossover sent his defender to the floor, and though he couldn’t cap off the highlight play, he swished a pair of free throws that kept the Lions down two with 55 seconds remaining. A Seahawk jumper and buzzer-beating three dug the Lions into a 39-32 hole at halftime.
As the Seahawks opened the second half with a three-pointer at the 19:22 mark, sharpshooting became a running theme throughout the game. With the deficit back to ten, the Lions chipped away, getting within four, 42-38, with 15:28 to go. The Seahawks then went on a 14-3 run over the next six minutes, a 15-point deficit forcing an Emerson timeout.
The Lions remained in an uphill battle, trailing by 20 with five minutes left, as the Seahawks ran up the scoreboard with layups and free throws. The Lions emptied their bench with 2:41 remaining, trailing 72-55. First-year guard Roman Leraris swished a deep three at the 2:05 mark and junior forward Jeff Tan drilled a pair of free throws with 13 seconds remaining. Sophomore forward Shay Roban buried a corner three at the buzzer as the Lions absorbed their tenth loss of the season.
Brenner led the Lions with 12 points—all in the first half and all from three—along with four rebounds and one assist. Junior center Linus Helmhold finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, and one assist, and graduate guard Trevor Arico tallied nine points—all in the second half—as well as a rebound and a steal.
As a group, the Lions shot 22/61 (36.1%) from the field, 9/24 from three (37.5%), and 13/17 from the free-throw line (76.5%). They also committed 16 turnovers that turned into 16 second-chance points for Salve Regina, who also shot 27/60 from the field (45%), 7/19 from three (36.8%), and 19/27 from the line (70.4%).
The men’s basketball team faces the Babson College Beavers on Jan. 25 at 1 p.m., looking to earn another win after beating them in the conference opener in December.
