BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College Men's Basketball Team suffered a 75-57 loss at the hands of Norwich University on Tuesday night in the first half of a double-header played at Emmanuel's Jean Yawkey Center. With the win, the Cadets improved to .500 on the season, 7-7 overall and 3-4 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play. The Saints entered the GNAC rivalry with hopes of recovering from their recent four game slide, but dropped to 4-12 overall and 3-6 in league play.
The Saints opened the scoring with a three-ball from Xavier Everson (Rochester, N.Y.) on the right wing. Norwich quickly answered with a two hoops down low by Ryan Williams (Dallas, Texas) and a deep trey by Darell Marshall (Dallas, Texas) to take a 7-3 lead in the early going. Another three from Everson brought the spread to 7-6, Norwich, approaching the 15-minute mark. The Saints had no trouble breaking the Cadets' zone press, but settled for just three field goals, all by Everson, in the first five minutes of play.
An and-one by Norwich's Antonio Davis (Albany, N.Y.) gave the Cadets a 16-8 lead, before a three by Tyrone Buchanan (Detroit, Mich.) brought the spread to 16-11 and Emmanuel called for a timeout with 13:50 on the clock. Another Marshall three, a series of Emmanuel turnovers, and a couple of fast-break hoops by the Cadets put the visitors up, 27-13, at the ten-minute mark.
Norwich hoops by Williams, Jaren Jeffcoat (Dallas, Texas) and Antonio Davis (Albany, N.Y) were part of a were part of a 6-0 Cadets' run, which set the score at 34-17 at the five-minute mark. A bucket by freshman guard D.J. Fazio (Methuen, Mass.) ended the Saints' drought and forced a 30-second timeout by the visitors.
Consecutive three-pointers by the back-court tandem of Josh Cabrera (Providence, R.I.) and Tom McDonald (Groton, Mass.) pushed the Cadets over the 20-point margin and forced a full time-out by the Saints at 42-19 approaching the 3-minute mark.
Emmanuel junior Isaiah Duke (Albany, N.Y.) hit a jumper in the paint that was matched by a put-back from Norwich's Pim Smulders (Holland, Belgium) and the Cadets took a 44-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Cabrera led all scorers at the half with 14 points for the Cadets. Everson was the high man for the Saints with 8 points on 3 for 4 shooting. The Cadets out-rebounded the Saints, 17-15, and forced 12 Emmanuel turnovers, scoring 21 points off the Saints' errors in the opening frame. Sixty-three percent (17-27) shooting by the Cadets helped Norwich's cause in the first half.
The Saints went on an 11-2 run out of the break, when Fazio hit a runner in the lane, Everson knocked down a turn-around and Duke powered in two consecutive hoops, as the Saints capitalized on a couple of quick Norwich turnovers to cut their deficit to 46-33.
A put-back and a fast-break lay-up by Jeffcoat and a bucket down low by Davis extended the Norwich advantage to 54-35 with 13 minutes remaining in the contest. An 18-5 run by the Cadets pushed the lead to 62-38 with 9 minutes to go.
Emmanuel showed some determination with Everson and junior Nate Jackson (Middleboro, Mass.) earning strong blocks down low and junior Andre Fuller (Troy, N.Y.) put a layup back to help the Saints find some points and pull the score to 66-45. Two made foul shots for the hosts added to Everson's team leading 14 points and Fazio grabbed two more on a full court rush and layup.
Sophomore Connor Morgan (Chepachet, R.I.) drained a three from the left corner for the Saints and sophomore Patrick Ramsey (Easthampton, Mass.) added bucket underneath for Emmanuel but Norwich would hold on to win, 74-57.
Everson led the Saints with 14 points on the day while Davis led all scorers with 18. Cabrera and Williams also chipped in with double-digit points for the Cadets with 14 and 10, respectively.
The Saints turned the ball over 25 times compared to 16 by Norwich and the Cadets outrebounded Emmanuel, 39-36. The Cadets shot 30-67 from the floor and 10-15 from the line while the hosts went 22-54 from the field and 9-17 from the stripe.
Norwich managed to score 34 points off turnovers while Emmanuel notched eight points and the Cadets also score 22, second-chance points compared to nine by the Saints.
The Saints will have another chance at the Cadets, when they travel to Northfield, Vt. in mid-February for a rematch. Emmanuel is back in action on Thursday night (1/27), when they take on the Mustangs at Mount Ida College in a 6:00 p.m. start.