NEWPORT, R.I. (3/5/14) – The 5th seeded Lasell College men's basketball team advanced to the ECAC New England semifinals with a 78-70 victory over the #4 seed, Salve Regina on Wednesday night. The Lasers improved to 17-11 overall with the victory and the Seahawks dropped to 17-11 following the loss.
Lasell head coach Aaron Galletta said following the victory, "I thought Salve out-played us for most of the game. We made a couple of shots and were able to get some key stops down the stretch and we should feel very fortunate to have come out of this game with a victory".
Brandon Ganesh (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Clyde Niba (Atlanta, Ga.) each tallied 18 points in the victory and Brock Walters (Jacksonville, Fla.) added 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Lasers. Walters connected on 5-10 from behind the three point line, while Mike Vallone Wallingford, Conn.) came off the bench to score six points and hand out a game-high six assists for Lasell as the Lasers finished with 17 assists and only 11 turnovers.
Patrick Dineen scored a game-high 32 points, making 11-22 from the field including 6-12 from beyond the arc for the Seahawks. Jeff Bielefeld posted a double-double for Salve Regina with 16 points and 10 rebounds and Tommy Keyes added 10 points for SRU in the loss.
Trailing 9-7 in the early going, Lasell caught fire from behind the arc sparking a 14-4 run to take the lead. Brock Walters knocked down a three pointer followed by a Niba triple and a jumper before Walters connected on consecutive trips from distance to give the visitors a 21-13 lead with 10:51 to play in the opening half.
A three pointer by Dineen a few minutes later cut the Lasell lead to 25-23 but the Lasers again answered by connecting on two straight trips from downtown, using trifectas from Ganesh and Richard O'Brien (Manchester, N.H.) to stretch their lead to 31-23. Both shots were set up by Vallone, as the junior guard found ways to impact the game without getting himself in the scoring column.
"Mike Vallone provided us a huge lift offensively, he kick-started our offense in this game and was a big key to us being able to pull this one out" said Lasell head coach Aaron Galletta after the game.
A jumper by O'Brien gave Lasell a 33-23 lead but Salve scored nine straight to trim the Lasell lead to 33-32 before a three pointer by Walters made it a 36-32 margin at intermission.
Salve ground their way back into the game after trailing by eight in the early moments of the second half, tying the contest at 48-48 and 52-52 with just over 12 minutes to play in the contest. Clyde Niba sandwiched a pair of three pointers around a Ganesh driving layup to give Lasell a 60-52 cushion with just under 10 minutes remaining.
Five straight points by Dineen made it a 64-60 game with 7:18 left in the contest, but Lasell responded with a 9-4 run to take a 73-64 lead with 4:10 on the clock. Salve Regina wouldn't go away, using a free throw and a three pointer from Dineen and a jumper by Brenden Fowler to cut the Lasers lead to 73-70 with just over a minute left to play. Brock Walters converted a pair of free throws to make it a five point margin and Angel Ortiz (East Lyme, Conn.) went 3-4 from the line down the stretch, helping the Lasers seal the 78-70 victory.
Lasell will advance to play #1 seeded Nichols College who advanced with an 82-65 win against Plymouth State on Saturday March 8th at Johnson and Wales University. Lasell will be looking to avenge a season opening loss to the Bison when Nichols captured a 91-83 win on the Lasers home floor. When asked what he thought of the Lasers opportunity to gain a different result this time around Galletta responded "Nichols is a very good team. If we have any designs on coming out with a win this time around we're going to need to play a complete game and put together our best performance of the season".
Details on the time of the game have yet to be released but will be available on the http://laserpride.lasell.edu website when available.