PAXTON, Mass. – Becker College men's basketball team defeated Anna Maria 68-54 in non-conference action on Thursday evening at the Fuller Activities Center. With the loss the AMCATS dip to 1-2, while the Hawks move to 2-1. The Hawks have defeated the AMCATS four consecutive years.
Anna Maria score the first three points of the game with a Quantez Franklin (South Yarmouth, Mass.) free-throw and a Daye jumper from the corner but the Hawks responded with a 9-0 run capped by a David Maturah (Windsor Locks, Conn.) lay in with 15:38 to play. Daye and Franklin would combine for the games next four points to cut the Becker lead to 9-7.
Ford-Hayes would hit a trey in the corner off a dish from Darius Sealy (Cambridge, Mass.) to thrust the scoreboard to a Becker 16-12 advantage and force and AMCAT timeout. Anna Maria freshman Shaun Garner (Margate, Fla.) responded with the first basket out of the break to once again make it a 2-point game, 16-14 with 8:54 remaining in the first stanza.
Becker would go on a 9-1 run, to break the game open, over the next three minutes to push the score to 25-15. The teams traded baskets to close out the first half and Becker would hold a 35-25 lead heading into the lockerroom.
In the second half, Becker held on to its double-digit lead for most of the period. Daye would deliver a pair of passes, one to Bradanese behind the arc in the corner and to McKissick for a layup midway through the final period to cut the deficit to 43-35. It was too little too late for the AMCATS as Becker would pull away to the 68-54 final.
Becker held the edge in shooting percentage (39%-35%) and a slight advantage in rebounds (40-39).
The AMCATS are now off until Tuesday afternoon when they travel to Worcester, Mass. to play the Cougars of Clark University at 4:00pm. Becker is back in action on Saturday when they travel to Fitchburg State University for a 1:00pm tip-off.