BOSTON, Mass. – Senior Jason Ganley (Northbridge, Mass.) scored 21 points to lead the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's basketball team past non-conference foe Emmanuel College, 60-56, Thursday evening at the Andy Yosinoff Court.
The victory pushes the Leopards' win streak to four, as the Black & Gold improve to 6-2, while the Saints drop to 1-7 this season with their fifth consecutive setback.
Emmanuel opened the game with a 7-2 spurt to take an early five-point lead before the Leopards responded with a 10-0 run to take a 12-7 lead following a pair of free throws by sophomore Stephen Azums (Hyde Park, Mass.). Wentworth extended the lead to eight points (17-9) following another Azums bucket before Emmanuel went on a 10-2 flurry to pull within two at 21-19 after back-to-back threes by senior Alex Minetti (Wakefield, R.I.) and freshman Jack Moulder (Newtown, Conn.). Over the final few minutes of the half, the Leopards made it a two possession game to carry a 29-25 cushion into the break.
The Saints came out of the locker room scoring five quick points, capped off by a three from junior guard Joe Tamburro (South Windsor, Conn.) to take a 30-29 lead, theSaints' first advantage since early in the game. The squads would trade leads until a free throw by Ganley pulled the Leopards up four at 36-32 with 12:53 to play. The hosts used an 8-0 run to regain the upper hand with a 40-36 advantage before taking their largest lead of the night at 44-37 following a jumper by junior forward Isaiah Ruffen (Haverhill, Mass.) with 7:51 to play. Wentworth battled to even the score with a quick 7-0 spurt of its own to tie the game at 44-44 after a pair from the charity stripe by Michael Boaheng (Worcester, Mass.).
Over the next four minutes, the teams traded leads to a 51-50 score as sophomore Riddik put Emmanuel on top by one with 2:42 left in the contest before senior Ben Kizel (Short Hills, N.J.) drained a deep three to give Wentworth the lead for good.
Emmanuel made one last run at extending the game, however. With 10 seconds left on the clock and Wentworth holding a 58-54 lead, Emmanuel sophomore Emmett Riddick (Middletown, Conn.) sunk a layup to pull within a single possession, 58-56. The Leopards held composure coming out of a home timeout, as Ganley sunk his second of two free throws with three seconds left to seal the victory.
Azums and Boaheng also posted double-figures with 14 and 10 points, respectively, while Azums paced the Leopards on the glass with eight rebounds.
Tamburro led the Saints with a team-high 15 points while Riddick scored 14 points.
Both teams return to action on Saturday, December 9 at 3:00 p.m. The Leopards return to non-league play with a home tip-off against Mount Ida College, while the Saints travel to Johnson & Wales University for a conference match up.
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