PLYMOUTH, N.H. – The Plymouth State men’s basketball team split a pair of close games to open the season, as they took home 3rd place in the BSU Tip-Off Classic from Bridgewater State University. The Panthers fell to the host Bears 70-64, but would rebound to defeat Becker College 71-68 in the consolation game.
The Panthers played catch up for the entirety of the first game against Bridgewater. BSU was led by the play of Sophomore Michael Lofton, who scored 18 points to go along with 14 rebounds, six blocks, and three steals. The Bears also got strong play from Shawn Yard who scored 13 points, and freshman Conor Dunleavy who notched 10 points.
The Panthers trailed 34-26 at halftime, and trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half. Plymouth used a 14-3 run in the last five minutes to cut the deficit to four points with just 47 seconds remaining. However, the Bears would knock down six of their final eight free throws to put away the visitors. Senior Guard Kevin Eisenberg scored seven of his 12 points during the run for the Panthers.
One bright spot for PSU was the debut of freshman forward Uche Nwokeji who collected a double-double in his first game, scoring 14 points to go with 12 rebounds. Junior guard Alex Burt also played a strong game, tallying 10 points, six rebounds, and three assists.
Nwokeji would have another strong outing as the Panthers defeated Becker College in a close contest to take home third place. The freshman forward followed up his strong debut with another 13 points and nine rebounds.
However, Nwokeji was not alone on the stat sheet, as a number of Panthers had strong performances. Alex Burt recorded another 14 points, while Petey Skevas and Sheldon Benson each chipped in with 11 points for PSU.
The Hawks were led by the great play of sophomore Lee Brocket, who gave Plymouth fits all afternoon, finishing with 33 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Brocket also hauled in eight rebounds and was named to the all-Tournament Team. Junior guard Mike Russell also had a good game for BC, finishing with 11 points.
PSU had a strong first half, as they headed into the locker room with a 33-26 advantage. The second half, though, was extremely back and forth. The game would feature both eight ties and eight lead changes. The panthers appeared to have the game locked up after a Burt three pointer put PSU up 66-56 with just under four minutes to play. However, the Hawks came back with an 8-0 run to trim the lead to two with just two minutes remaining. Becker had a chance to tie when they got the ball back with 16 seconds, trailing by just three points, but failed to convert on two three-point attempts.
Plymouth will look to improve their record to 2-0 when they travel to non-conference foe Castleton State College on Tuesday.