The men’s basketball team snapped its three-game skid with a clutch, overtime win against the Elms College Blazers, on Saturday evening, 73-70. The victory now puts the Lasers fourth in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference standings, and more importantly, sets them up for home-court advantage during the first round of the playoffs.
The first half began terribly for the Lasers, with the team falling into a 4-15 hole early. A few timeouts were called in the hopes of gaining some momentum and slowing down the Blazers’ offense. It became clear that this was only a sluggish start by the Lasers and not a full-blown team breakdown.
The visitors were running circles around the home team before some shots started to fall. Lasell’s guards began to create their own shots, which opened the floor for everyone else. Some opportunities were made available at the three-point line and the Lasers gladly took advantage. The Blazers continued to respond to Lasell’s scoring by giving themselves high-percentage looks. By halftime, the Blazers led 33-27.
Lasell needed to clean up their mistakes and come out sharper in the second if they wanted to be victorious in this one. The second half began, and the Lasers improved in almost every facet of the game. Shooting from beyond the arc continued to improve, and so did passing and rebounding. Lasell completely cut Elms’ lead away by the midway point of the second half.
The score stood at 45-44 with the crowd on its feet. The Lasers played with extreme discipline and togetherness, but the Blazers were not willing to fade away, knocking down shots from deep. There were a few sequences where it seemed that Elms would run away once again, but the Lasers refused to let that happen.
The game ran down to the wire as the Lasers led by one point with a minute left on the clock. A turnover on the inbound led to a foul and two free throws for Elms. Fortunately for Lasell, the visitors only cashed one of them, so at 66 a piece, overtime was imminent.
In OT, the Lasers played with extreme aggression on both ends of the floor. A layup became the dagger, as Elms had no answer for the home team. With a record of 16-9, the men’s basketball team will enter the postseason on its home floor against no. 5 Norwich on February 20 at 7 p.m.
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