Men’s Basketball Posts 81-75 Victory Against Emmanuel

The men's basketball posted an 81-75 victory over Emmanuel in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest at the Harborside Recreation Center on Saturday afternoon.

Johnson & Wales was led by senior All-American Lamonte Thomas (Providence, R.I.) with a season-high 42 points, 10 rebounds and four assists while fellow senior Mike Harris (Providence, R.I.) was also in double-figures with 17 points and two boards.  Senior James Folk (Lawrence, Mass.) had nine points, three boards and three assists in the win for the Wildcats.

Sophomore Theo Robinson (Springfield, Mass.) paced Emmanuel with 23 points and a game-high 19 rebounds while senior Isaiah Duke (Albany, N.Y.) had 19 points for the Saints.  Junior Xavier Everson (Rochester, N.Y.) and junior Michael Mailhot (Norwich, Conn.) each had 15 points in the setback.

Johnson & Wales took command of the game early and led 33-11 after a layup by Thomas with 7:41 left in the first half.  The Wildcats would take the 46-29 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

Emmanuel chipped away at the lead in the opening minutes of the second half and made the score 51-47 after a layup by Duke with 11:40 left in the contest.  JWU responded with a 13-6 run, capped with a layup by freshman Julian Bolton (Manassas, Va.) to extend their lead to 64-53 with 6:30 remaining.  Once again, Emmanuel responded with 17-8 run of the own and cut the lead to 72-70 on a free throw by Duke with just over two minutes left on the clock.  That would be as close as the Saints would get, however as JWU hit nine free throws down the stretch en route to the 81-75 victory.

The win is the third straight for JWU and improves the teams record to 5-8 overall and 4-2 in the GNAC while Emmanuel falls to 4-9 on the season and 3-3 in league play.  The Wildcats will return to action on Monday, January 16^th when they travel to Albertus Magnus for a GNAC contest at 3:00 p.m.