QUINCY, Mass. - The Eastern Nazarene men's basketball team opened up the 2011-2012 season at home against Suffolk University on Tuesday night. The Lions fell to the Rams in a hard fought affair, 67-64.
Nerves proved to be an issue in the first half as both teams came out of the gate high strung. The Lions and the Rams traded shots but had trouble connecting for points early in the contest. At 10:15 a free throw by senior forward CJ Gonzales put ENC up by five as the Lions appeared to have found their rhythm, but the Rams slowly mounted a comeback to tie the game at 18 around the 6:30 mark.
Sophomore guard DJ Forbes came off of the bench and got Eastern Nazarene's Red-Out crowd on their feet as he used his quick reaction to catch a ball that Suffolk freshman Carlos De La Cruz tried to throw off of Forbes while falling out of bounds. Forbes swiftly scored a lay-up for the Lions.
Sophomore James Bertier had the hot hand as the clock wound down in the first, hitting a late lay-up and a three pointer for ENC as the Lions took a slight 34-33 advantage into the locker room.
Baskets were hard to come by in the first half as Suffolk showed a full court press, resulting in five SU steals and nine first half turnovers for the Lions. Strong defense kept the Lions in the game, as the home team forced ten turnover's of their own. Suffolk's junior guard Chris Torres scored an impressive 17 points in the first half on six of eight shooting. Junior forward Chima Ezeigbo led ENC with 11 points in the first 20 minutes.
In the second half, the Rams came out strong, sparked by junior Jevic Muteba's intensity on the offensive and defensive end. The Rams stayed in their full-court defense and controlled the tempo until Eastern Nazarene grabbed their first lead of the half at the 9:15 mark, when they went up 50-48 after a three-pointer by sophomore Brian Hard.
The Rams would take the lead back, and appeared to be pulling away until around the four minute mark when the Lions picked up their half court defense and began to close the gap. Aaron Johnson's one and one with three minutes remaining pushed the score to 63-60 in the Rams' favor. The subsequent Rams possession saw ENC guard Max Barbosa steal the ball in the open backcourt. Barbosa was promptly fouled in the double bonus with 2:52 remaining.
Barbosa's free-throws brought the Lions within two at 63-61, and an Ezeigbo block gave ENC the ball back. Torres answered for the Rams, scoring a fast break lay-up and then finding junior teammate Colin Halpin on the next possession to bring the score to 67-62.
Ezeigbo stepped up next, hitting two clutch free throws for ENC to narrow the deficit at 67-64.
The Lions had several opportunities down the stretch to tie the contest, but the shots would not fall as the Rams took home their first win of the season, 67-64.
Ezeigbo led the Lions with 15 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Barbosa and Johnson chipped in 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Torres scored a game-high 28 points for the Rams. SU's Halpin contributed 16 points and nine rebounds and junior Matt Pepdjonovic garnered the double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
"I thought that we played with a good amount of energy and that our half court defense looked good," head coach Jim Aller said. "There are definitely some areas where we need to improve. One is our decision making down the stretch, and for a team that is so reliant on our guards, we need to cut down on turnovers."
Eastern Nazarene will travel to St. Davids, Pa. to participate in the Nate Ware Invitational tournament on Friday, November 18th at 6:00pm. Suffolk University will face MCLA at the Endicott College Tournament on Friday at 8:00pm.