FITCHBURG, Mass. - Emmanuel men's basketball posted one of its highest scoring halves of the season, netting 47 second-half points, in Monday night's comeback win over the Fitchburg State Falcons, 68-66, in non-conference play from Parkinson Gymnasium. The Saints win moves them back above .500 and to 5-4 this season, while the loss drops the Falcons to 6-3.
Emmanuel trailed by as many as 13 in the second half as the Falcons used an 8-1 run to take their largest lead of the night with 6:32 remaining. The double-digit lead for Fitchburg held for the next 90 seconds before the Saints made their most impactful run of the night to steal a win on the road.
With 4:57 left and the Saints trailing 60-50, Emmanuel caught fire with the use of an 11-1 surge over a span of 2:06, erasing a 10-point deficit to tie the game at 61-61. Junior
Mahari Guerrier scored the first eight points in the run, while fellow junior
Connor Hanavan capped off the surge with a three-pointer to tie Monday's tilt.
Still tied, now at 64-64, the most crucial plays of the night came in the final 30 seconds, starting with a fast break, and-one layup for first-year
Aidan Oliveira, as the three-point play gave Emmanuel a 67-64 lead. After the Falcons cut the deficit to one, a pair of Saints missed foul shots gave the home side the final possession, trailing 67-66 with 10.4 seconds remaining.
On the ensuing possession, strong defense by first-year
Manny Duran and a well-timed defensive rotation by Guerrier made the layup attempt by
Jalen Jackson extremely difficult, as his shot missed and was rebounded by the Saints. The visitors moved ahead by two with 1.8 seconds remaining as Fitchburg State was unable to get a shot off before the buzzer in Emmanuel's 68-66 victory.
Junior
Noah Beaudet scored a game-high 27 points on 10-of-17 from the field in 36 minutes. Guerrier added 16 points and 15 rebounds, while Oliveira chipped in with 11 points. The Saints shot 40.6 percent in the second half, but their ability to get to the foul line, going 17-for-25 in the second half, helped lift the Saints to a comeback win.
Jackson scored a team-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds for the Falcons.
Xavier Smaltz added 14 points and five rebounds off the bench, while
Jeremiah Simeon and
Joshua Jean Charles added 10 points each.
The Saints are back in action tomorrow night as they host Lesley University at 6:00 p.m. in the final home game of 2025. The Falcons host Roger Williams on Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 6:00 p.m.