GAME OVERVIEW:

New London, CT--The Lesley men's basketball team were unable to grab a victory on their final road trip of the regular season as they were defeated by Mitchell College on Wednesday, February 14. The Lynx held narrow leads on a couple of occasions in the first half but trailed by three points at half-time. The chances of Lesley following up their previous victory at home against Mitchell last month began to fade away in the second half as the Mariners were able to rattle together a number of scores in succession to shoot into a healthy lead. Mitchell was led by Brayvon Young and Domenico Santiago combining for 56 points, while Joey Martin continues to lead Lesley with a 20 point night. Lesley is now 12-12 overall and 7-6 in the NECC play, while Mitchell have a slightly better overall record of 13-11 and 9-4 in conference games.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• The home team shipped two baskets inside the opening minute but the Lynx replied strongly to take a 5-4 lead thanks to a layup from Marquise Johnson and a Joey Martin 3-pointer. 
• Jordan Bellitti contributed another 3-pointer off a crisp pass from Will Gibson to give Lesley the 8-6 lead.
• The Lynx were unable to score for a six minute stretch while the Mariners went on a 9-1 run to secure a 15-10 lead with 14-27 still left to play.
• Chase Howard was fouled in the process of knocking in a layup and sunk the free throw to take the lead 20-19 with 10:23 in the half remaining. 
• Mitchell went on a 8-0 run in ninety seconds in the final minutes of the opening half, sparker by Brayvon Young's back-to-back 3-pointers. 
• The final score of the half came from Lesley's Johnson who scored with a layup to leave his side trailing by just 3 points, 40-37. 
• Mitchell's Santiago, Young, and Nana Nkrumah led charged the Mariner's to an 11-point advantage less than five minutes into the second half.
• Lesley built a small bit of momentum with an eight point run which included a Nathaniel Chambers jump shot at the tail end of the streak. However, it was not enough to withstand a powerful Mitchell offense.  
• Mitchell's last seven scores of the game all came from free-throws as the Lynx tried to stall the clock and string quick scores together, but the Mariner's outscoring the Lynx 50-40 in the second half proved to be the difference maker in the night. 
• Lesley's top-scorer for the night,Martin got the final basket of the contest with 40 seconds remaining on the game clock, but it was Mitchell who walked away with the victory 90-77.
• Lesley edged Mitchell in one category with 16 second chance points compared to the winners total of 13.
• The Mariners scored 42 points inside the paint while the Lynx netted 36 points inside the key.

 STAT LEADERS:

LESLEY

Joey Martin 20 points, 6 rebounds

Jordan Bellitti 17 points, 8 rebounds

MITCHELL

Brayvon Young 29 points, 2 assists

Domenico Santiago 27 points, 14 rebounds

THE INSIDE SCOOP:

"They killed us inside and on the glass the whole night," said head coach Chris Giordano.  "We did a good job neutralizing their interior presence in the first half but we could not sustain it the whole game. Mitchell is a tough athletic squad who deserved to win tonight," he concluded.. 

NEXT UP:

Lesley's final regular season game is at home against Elms College on Saturday, February 17 at 5pm. The Lynx squad will honor their two seniors, Marquise Johnson and Will Gibson prior to the game.