Feb. 17, 2010

Box Score

BOSTON, Mass. - The Norwich University Men's Basketball Team pulled off a 79-67 win over the host Emmanuel College Saints in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) match-up played in the Jean Yawkey Center on Wednesday night. Rookie guard Ryan Williams (Dallas, Texas) came off the bench to past the visitors with a game-high 23 points on 7 for 14 shooting. The Saints honored their seniors prior to the start of the game, as Emmanuel will lose Karl Gonzalez (Worcester, Mass.), Zach Luster (Provincetown, Mass.) and Eric Spanbauer (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) to graduation this May. The win for Norwich boosted the Cadets to 12-11 on the season and 7-9 in GNAC play, while Emmanuel dropped to 4-20 overall and 3-13 in the league.

The Saints kicked off the game with a free throw by Isaiah Duke (Albany, N.Y.) to take a 1-0 lead. Norwich hen countered with a pair of freebies by Jaren Jeffcoat (Dallas, Texas). A lay-up by Duke gave EC a 3-2 lead before two free throws from Antonio Davis (Albany, N.Y.) put the Cadets up 4-3 and Emmanuel called an early time-out.

An and-one by Duke gave the Saints a 10-8 edge at the 15-minute mark, but the Cadets would quickly take over the lead and not relinquish the advantage for the remainder of the night. Four early turnovers by the Saints forced Emmanuel to call its second time-out of the game with thirteen and a half minutes left and the score tied at 10-all.

A drive and a lay-in by Israel Guardado (El Centro, Calif.) put the Cadets up 17-12 at the 10-minute mark. The two teams exchanged buckets over the next five minutes with the visitors maintaining their five-point edge. A long backboard trey by Darrell Marshall (Dallas, Texas) pushed the Cadets' lead to double figures with three minutes remaining in the half. Norwich tacked on a couple more hoops before the break and took a 33-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.

At the break, Emmanuel had out-rebounded Norwich, 23-19. The first half was sloppy one with both teams had committed a 10 turnovers apiece. Duke lead all scorers at the break with 7 points for the Saints, while Davis and Brandon Kuhre (Cornish, N.H.) had 6 points each for the Cadets.

Norwich held its double-figure lead through the first ten minutes of the second frame. After a 9-0 Emmanuel run, the Saints managed to cut the deficit to as little as 5 points on an and-one by Andre Fuller (Troy, N.Y.) with 9 minutes left. The Cadets then pushed the spread back into double digits after free throws by Quincy Williams (St. Louis, Mo.) at the five-minute mark.

Norwich hung on for the 79-67 win, as Ryan Williams knocked down four three-balls in the second half. Williams finished with a game-high 23 points, including hitting 5 of 9 from behind the arc.

Junior guard Cori Boston (Boston, Mass.) added 14 points and a team-high 9 boards. Quincy Williams chipped in 13 points, dropping 9 of 11 from the free throw line. Emmanuel sent the Cadets to the line 33 times in the game and Norwich shot 81.8% as a team, hitting 27 of their 33 tries.

Duke finished with a double-double for the Saints with 11 points and 11 boards. Freshman guard Armani Gill (Boston, Mass.) hit for a team-high 15 points on 6 for 10 shooting, while Fuller pitched in 12 points in the effort. Luster dished out a team-high 3 assists for the Saints.

Emmanuel will play in its last game of the 2009-10 season this Saturday. The Saints will travel to Johnson & Wales University to take on the Wildcats in a 1pm start.