Lasell Handles Emmanuel on the Road

In a first of two regular season battles between the Lasell College Lasers, the 2008 GNAC tournament champions, and the Emmanuel College Saints, who were picked #1 in the GNAC preseason polls this season, the Lasers were triumphant, with a 75-61 win on Saturday afternoon, at the Jean Yawkey Center.   

With the Saints focusing on Lasell's leading scorer Jose Guitian (Miami, FL), holding him scoreless for over the firs ten minutes of the game, Lasell's sharp shooter Brad Caravoulias (Dracut, Mass.) paced the Lasers in the opening stanza with 15 points, shooting 60% from the field and 50% from downtown, on 3-6 trey's.

The Lasers went up by as much as twelve points, taking their biggest margin at 26-14 before the Saints cut the lead to just two on a fast break layup by Rob Williams-Hinton (Oak Park, MI), with just under 3 minutes remaining in the half.  The Lasers rallied back, locking in a 37-29 advantage at the break.  

The Blue and White jumped out of the gates quickly in the second half, on three's by Junior Sainval (Miami, FL) and Guitian, and a pair of freebies by Kevin Richards (New Orleans, LA).   Emmanuel trailed by as much as twenty-three points, at the five minute mark, and even with a Saints high 18 points and game-high 15 rebounds by Mack Spellman (Clinton, NY), it was not enough to keep Emmanuel in the game, and the Lasers ran away with a fourteen point triumph.

After a slow start, Guitian ended with a game-best 22 points, along with14 rebounds and five assists.  Caravoulias finished with 17 points, 4 boards, and 3 assists, and Richard had 10 points, 5 rebounds, and dished out 6 assists.   The Lasers pressure defense held Emmanuel's leading scorer, Williams-Hinton, to just eight total points in the game.

The Lasers retain the top stop in the current conference standings, at an unbeaten 6-0, and 8-4 overall, while the Saints drop to fifth in the standings, with a 3-3 league record and 6-7 overall record.

The Lasers return to action on Monday night when they host Mount Ida College, at 7:00 p.m