Story courtesy of Rob Palardy, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Lesley University men’s basketball team erased an 12-point deficit midway through the second half to defeat New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) opponent Southern Vermont College 88-79. Lesley improved to 5-10 with a 2-2 conference record while Southern Vermont dropped to 4-8 with a 1-3 conference record.

Mountaineers guard Lance Spratling (PITTSFIELD, Mass./Taconic) scored a game-high 28 points with 10 rebounds but 25 Southern Vermont turnovers helped the Lynx make a second-half comeback. Southern Vermont held a 12-point advantage with 10:46 remaining in the second stanza, but over the next five minutes the Lynx went on a 20-8 run to tie the game at 73-73.

Lesley’s Alex Green (BATON ROUGE, La./Robert E. Lee) hit a jumper, two of his team-high 21 points, with 5:43 remaining in the game to give the Lynx a lead they would not relinquish. Green was an efficient 10-of-13 from the floor with four rebounds, four steals, and two assists.

Lesley’s second-half comeback was due in large part to the strong play of both John Sanchez (CARSON, Calif./Saint John Bosco) and Jonathan Cruz (HAVERHILL, Mass./Haverhill) who both scored nine points in the period. Sanchez ended the game with 15 points, six assists, four rebounds, and two assists. Cruz had 12 points off the bench with a steal and an assist.

Complementing Spratling’s effort for the Mountaineers were freshman Derrick Cenicola (HAMILTON, N.Y./Hamilton Central) and senior Joe Karnik (CASTLETON, N.Y./Maple Hill) who scored 17 and 13 points, respectively. Both players combined to go 6-for-10 from three-point range and were part of a Southern Vermont offense that hit 60.0% of their attempts from beyond the arc.

Lesley will be back in action on Saturday, January 23 at home against Newbury College starting at 3:00 pm. Southern Vermont will take on Elms College at home on the same day.