PSU Men’s Basketball Victorious on Senior Day
Kam Towle
For The Clock
kmt11@plymouth.edu
The Plymouth State University’s Men’s Basketball team closed out their Senior Day game on a high note, beating UMass Boston Saturday evening in LEC action at Foley Gymnasium.
Three seniors for the Panthers were honored during the pre-game ceremony. The three seniors were Uche Nwokeji (Lynn, Mass.), who recorded game-highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds, Zach Stevens (Londonderry, N.H.), who scored 8 points in just 7 minutes while electrifying the gym, and Dante Ramos (Dartmouth, Mass.), a former starter who did not play due to injury.
For the first 13 minutes of the game, both teams were very even, making mistakes but also hitting big shots. It only took until the 7:17 mark of the first half before the score got ugly, where Nwokeji would hit back-to-back free-throws to start the run. This sparked a 15-2 run to end the first half. Nwokeji would contribute eight points, as well as scoring from three Juniors on the team: a jump shot from Curtis Arsenault (Berlin, N.H.), two free-throws from Ernie Johnson (Springfield, Mass.), and a three-pointer from Nick MacGregor (Rochester, N.H.). At the half, the
score was 31-18 in favor of the Panthers.
To start the second half, both teams went back and forth and the Beacons managed to play even with PSU, maintaining the 15-point deficit through nine and a half minutes of play. Iser Barnes (Boston, Mass.) and Maurice Magras (Medford, Mass.) both hit 3-pointers in an attempt to not let the game slip away during that stretch. However, for UMass Boston, the Panthers would not let up, and with 6:09 to play, Johnson would hit two free throws to put PSU up by 19. Then, the re-entrance of Stevens back into the game proved to be the dagger, as he would hit two three’s in the final minutes to ice the game, and the final score would come to 70-49.
PSU received scoring from 11 different players. Aside from Nwokeji’s Senior Day to remember with 21 points and 10 boards, Arsenault also hit double-digits with 13 points, and MacGregor and fellow Junior Jack Preston (Nashua, N.H.) each added seven points apiece.
As For UMass Boston, Quadry Allen ( White Castle, La.) was their leading scorer with 18 points and Josh Ruffin (Rockland, Mass.) led the team in rebounds with 8.
Both teams will continue with their in-conference games next week. PSU (15-8, 6-6 LEC) is currently in a three-way tie with UMass Dartmouth and Keene State for fourth place and the hope for a quarterfinal home playoff game. The Panthers will travel to Southern Maine on Wednesday (7:30 p.m.) and UMass Boston (6-16, 2-10 LEC) will host UMass Dartmouth Wednesday (7:30 p.m.).
CLOCK PHOTO/ALEX CROSSLEY