It’s been an up and down season for the Emerson College men’s basketball team as we reach the end of January. But, the team needs to get it together soon if they wish to stay in the playoff picture as the sixth-seeded team in the NEWMAC.
The Lions are currently sitting at a record of 7-9 and going 3-4 in NEWMAC play. The team only has conference games from here on out. At the end of last fall, they closed out at home against Wheaton College before traveling out west to Southern California to play California Lutheran University and Chapman University over winter break, splitting the road trip at 1-1. But the team doesn’t seem to have thawed going into spring, remaining ice cold to start the new year.
Emerson has gone 1-5 in January, with their lone win coming against MIT off a career-best 22-point performance from junior forward Brendan Taylor, where he also drained five three-pointers.
In their first home game of the spring semester last Thursday, the Lions hosted the Clark University Cougars. Since 2023, Clark has had Emerson’s number, winning six out of the last seven matchups. Thursday’s game was no different as the Cougars dominated the Lions 82-63, shutting down the purple and gold in the second half by outscoring them 43-28.
Emerson played their style of basketball, passing the ball to their offensive playmakers and getting timely defensive stops on the other end of the court. Senior captain guard Jacob Armant opened the fray with a three-pointer, and fellow senior center Linus Helmhold used his frame to score close to the rim, but Clark was matching every shot.
Aside from Helmhold, it was difficult for any Lion to finish at the rim as the Cougars were daring their opponent to shoot the ball. However, it helps when players like Taylor can come straight off the bench and nail back-to-back three-pointers from the right wing. This forced Clark to take a timeout midway through the first half, with Emerson leading 17-12.
Helmhold continued to be the engine of the Lions’ offense by controlling the offensive glass and drawing fouls to earn trips to the free-throw line. Toward the end of the first half, the Cougars started to peel away. Clark was able to clog up passing lanes and turn Emerson’s offensive possessions stale with a suffocating full-court press and man-to-man defense. At halftime, the Lions were only trailing 39-35. This was the closest the score would be for the rest of the game.
The Cougars came out of the locker room on the hunt with their pressure, and Emerson was unable to provide an answer. At this point in the game, every Lion’s layup was met with three made shots by Clark. When the clock hit zero, the box score told the story of the Cougars’ success: 48 points in the paint to Emerson’s 24, and 20 points from turnovers to just five.
Rico Brill, an Emerson Channel Sports producer and junior sports communication major, knows a little more about Emerson basketball than the average fan. Brill said that the absence of two of the team’s top four scorers from last season, guards Trevor Arico and Lucas Brenner, due to graduations, has been a missing piece this season.
“Losing Arico and Brenner, who were pure bucket getters, has set them back,” Brill said. “The team is really searching for that leading scorer who will put his head down and do it themselves.”
Brill sees the potential they have as a deep team and believes that by establishing an identity, they can find success. However, said concerns for the remaining schedule cannot be ignored.
“They still seem to be searching for the right lineup a little late into the season,” Brill said. “If they can continue to work off guys like Linus and Guillermo [Gasset Ruiz], they’ll be okay. They just need a little run.”
As it currently stands, the Lions are the final seed in the NEWMAC playoffs, but Armant knows that the playoffs are any team’s time to shine and pull off an upset.
“We can win any matchup we have in the playoffs,” he said. “We just need to play our best basketball in February come playoff time, regardless of the outcomes of now.”
Armant said the team needs more intensity on the defensive end of the court, which will create more opportunities on offense. But when the team is struggling at points during the game, he pointed out how they need to stay together and play as a team, rather than five separate individuals.
“When you’re losing, it’s easy to point fingers and blame players or coaches, but that’s not the case with this team,” Armant said. “Me and the other captains and older guys want to keep everyone together. Everyone can have their moment, but we all need to stay involved for that to happen.”
Armant’s message going forward is simple but bold; the energy that a team like Emerson needs to follow going forward: “Hundred percent guaranteed we make the playoffs.”
Tonight, the Lions will welcome the Springfield College Pride to the Hank Smith Court at 7 p.m., their first meeting since Emerson defeated them in the first round of the NEWMAC playoffs last season.
