Men's Basketball season comes to an end in Quarterfinal round

Plymouth State's Men's Basketball season came to an abrupt halt on Tues., Feb. 21 after falling to Rhode Island College, 79-48. This brought the Panther's final record to 9-16.

The Panthers came into this game having lost twice this season to the Anchormen, but unfortunately, the third time wasn't a charm for visiting Plymouth State.

Plymouth State was able to tie the game at 17 apiece as Shomari Morgan (Manchester, NH) sank two free throws almost midway throw the first half. Rhode Island (who were ranked 23rd in the nation for Division III schools coming into this game) quickly ended the thoughts of a potential upset, as they finished the rest of the half on a 24-7 run, to put the score at 41-24 in favor of the home team.

The second half didn't fare much better for the Panthers, as RIC extended the score to a 22-point lead 4:32 into the second half.

The leading scorer for Plymouth was senior Brian Chergey (Bow,NH) whose career at Plymouth came to an end after the loss. Chergey scored over 550 points in his fine career for the Panthers, and will go down as one of the best Panthers of this generation.

Not to be outdone, fellow seniors Jesse Sabolis (Stoughton, MA), Ben Higgins (Rochester, NH) and Kyle Walker (Brooklyn, NY) put the green and white on for the final times in their respective careers. All four seniors "have meant a lot not only to our men's basketball program but also to this great university," stated first year Head Coach Andrew Novick. All four seniors brought something different to the table, not only during games, but also in practice as well.

This team looks to build for the future, as they have their leading scorer (with 12.6 points per game) in current sophomore Petey Skevas (Wethersfield, CT) returning, as well as one of their better three-point shooters (at 47%) in junior Matt Cloutier (Milton, NH). Both of these players will be key pieces next year for the Panthers.

Despite the final record not being what the players and coaches have hoped it be, a lack of effort was never something that the Panthers lacked. As Coach Novick said, "I have been very pleased with our work ethic." While this doesn't make losing any easier, at least the effort was there, and Coach Novick has expressed that his players have given him tremendous effort all season.

The first season under Coach Novick might not have produced an overall record that many have hoped for, but Coach Novick has coached under current University of Maryland Head Coach Gary Williams. Novick has only started his career at Plymouth, and with another year with the team, he will continue to teach his players to play at a high quality of basketball.