WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Gallaudet University men's basketball team took down North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) foe Keuka College at the Field House Saturday 66-59 in front of a record 586 attendees. Sporting pink laces and other pink paraphernalia, the team stylishly showed their support for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's Pink Zone event, while aggressively chasing team history. With the victory – their 16th this year – the Bison have now tied the program record for most wins in a season. Gallaudet set the 16-win mark 24 years ago when the Bison posted a 16-10 record during the 1985-86 season.
Gallaudet (16-8, 12-5 NEAC) played a physical brand of basketball for all 40 minutes. In fact, over 55 percent of their scoring came inside the paint, where they outscored Keuka 38 to 26. Junior forward Layton Seeber (Champaign, Ill.) dominated the defensive glass, where he grabbed all of his career-high 15 rebounds. He also had 19 points and seven assists in the game. The Bison made effective use of their depth, scoring 17 points off the bench compared to Keuka's six. Sophomore forward Danny Kelly (Strongsville, Ohio) scored 13 of those bench points and grabbed six rebounds for the Buff and Blue. Junior guard Brandon McMillan (Frederick, Md.) scored 17 points and was the only other GU player in double figures.
The Bison were firmly in control of the game to start, jumping out to a 30-23 lead in the first half. Keuka (5-15, 4-13) closed the gap in the second half, tying the game at 37 with 13:57 remaining in the contest, before actually taking a three-point lead, 55-52, with just over five minutes remaining. However, the Storm led for less than 90 seconds before GU took back the lead for good at the 3:43 mark on a Seeber free throw.
The 6-foot-5 junior, who was perfect on all six of his free throw attempts, ranks in the top 16 in Division III men's basketball in free-throw percentage (.893). As a whole, GU went 11-for-13 at the charity stripe, improving on their already conference-leading free-throw percentage (.743). The continued success at the line has proved critical time and again to retaining leads late in ball games and today was no different. They made their final five free throw attempts, in the last two minutes, ensuring the victory.
Keuka was led by guard Putter Brown, who netted 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Storm. Center Diamond Booker also had a strong showing as he scored seven points and had 10 rebounds before he fouled out with 2:11 left in the game.
Gallaudet will take on NEAC foe Wells College (13-11, 12-5 NEAC) tomorrow (Sunday, February 20) at 2 p.m. at the Field House in their final regular-season game. GU will pay tribute to its seniors before the start of the game. With the top four teams in the conference separated by one conference game the outcome of tomorrow's match-up will have serious implications for the Bison.