Gulls suffer setback to Emerson, 83-73
Jan. 15, 2009
BOSTON, Mass. - Emerson College held a 42-30 lead at the intermission and never looked back, as the Lions edged Endicott, 83-73, in non-conference men's basketball action on Thursday evening in Boston, Mass. With the win, Emerson improves to 8-3 while the Gulls dip below .500 at 6-7.
The Lions took the lead early in the first half as sophomore Tom Messinger (Florence, Mass.) and junior Jeremy Shannon (Lowell, Mass.) both connected from behind the arc. Emerson controlled the tempo from the get-go, building a six point advantage just five minutes into the opening frame.
The Lions buried eight of their 15 attempts from three-point land, shooting 53.3% from downtown. Messinger pieced together a strong opening stanza, scoring nine points in the first 20 minutes. The Gulls, however, did push the lead to within one early in the first, only to have Emerson respond with a run that sent the Lions into halftime with a 42-30 lead.
The Emerson lead proved insurmountable for the Gulls, as Bryan Rouse (East Greenwich, R.I.) made sure to close out any thoughts of a comeback. Rouse scored a game-high 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the hosts. Dan Boylan (Royal Oak, Mich.) was also strong for the Lions, scoring 15 points including four three's in the win. Messinger closed out his night with 14 points.
Endicott's Graham Whitelaw (Kennebunk, Maine) had 20 points and four steals in the setback. Junior Bobby Montrond (Brockton, Mass.) chipped in 11 points and two blocks. Erik Callo (Southington, Conn.), Aaron Karkow (Uncasville, Conn.) and Chris Galbraith (So., Lowell, Mass.) each had ten points.
Up next for Emerson is a Great Northeast Athletic Conference road contest against Rivier College on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Endicott will look to move to 3-0 in conference play as it squares off with Western New England on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. in Beverly, Mass.