The Plymouth State Men’s Basketball team’s season came to a sudden halt, when they lost to 3rd ranked Eastern Connecticut State University 59-58 in the Little East Conference tournament. The Panther’s came in as the 6th seed of the tournament and were in the game the whole entire way. Plymouth State’s record ultimately ended up being 11-14 after the loss on Tuesday, February 22nd.
In the first half, everything was going well for the Panthers as they built up a seven point lead by halftime. The Panthers appeared on their way to pulling off an upset, as they built up a 13 point lead with 16 minutes left to go in the game. Strong play from Ryan Lambert (Derry, N.H.) and Matt Feehan (Nashua, N.H.), who combined for 30 points, 10 assists, six steals and eight rebounds allowed the Panthers a legitimate shot at potentially playing Western Connecticut State University in the Conference semifinals.
Despite the Warriors of ECSU coming back from a 13 deficit in the second half, the Panthers had an opportunity to still win the game in the last couple of minutes. After ECSU went 1-2 from the free throw line to give the Warriors a 59-58 lead, the Panthers had three opportunities to score in the final two minutes, but ultimately came up short.
Despite the narrow loss, Head Coach Damien Strahorn was “really proud of the guys”, and why shouldn’t he be? The Panthers went into the game with the mentality of having to be in it to win it, and they came up only two points short of the upset.
With this game being the final one of the season for the Panthers, Coach Strahorn was able to look back on the season, and especially the seniors who played their last game in the green and white. “I couldn’t have been more fortunate to have the group of seniors that I did. They competed all year, and worked to get better,” said Strahorn. “We will miss them greatly and I can’t thank them enough for their contributions.”
In regards to next year, Strahorn thinks that the team will “be very similar to what we faced this season” in that four of the five in the starting line-up this year were seniors, as they were the previous year. Leading the charge next year will include players like junior guard Brian Chergey (Bow, N.H.) who averaged almost nine points per game and shot better than 47% from the three point line. Joining Chergey next year will include junior forward Jesse Sabolis (Stoughton, Mass.) who Coach Strahorn said “developed the most over the course of the season.” Players like Chergey, Sabolis and many underclassmen show that the Panthers have a great future ahead of them, and with a classy coach like Coach Strahorn, the Panthers should be a team to beat next year.