CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Freshman guard Anthony Mattocks (Sarasota, Fla.) went 6-of-9 from the floor and finished with 14 points to lead the Lynx to a 63-55 victory over Wheelock College in New England Collegiate Conference action tonight. Lesley improves to 6-12 on the year and 4-5 in NECC play while the Wildcats drop to 3-14 overall and 2-7 in the conference.
Lesley senior guard Matt Gibson (Quincy, Mass.) finished with 13 points in the win while junior Mike Kaufman (Boca Raton, Fla.) had nine. Freshman Nikalus Oliver (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) had a team-high nine rebounds to go with his five points while classmate Brian Gladowski (Roseville, Cal.) came off the bench grabbing four boards and scoring five huge second half points.
Leading the way for the Wildcats was senior Bashir Hudson (Jamaica Plain, Mass.) who recorded his fifth straight double-double, his tenth on the season, scoring game-highs with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman Sean Semerjian (Montreal, Que.) and sophomore Scott Sobel (Silver Spring, Md.) were each in double-figures as they finished with 13 and twelve points, respectively.
With 8:40 left to play in the opening half, threes from Kaufman and Mattocks sparked a 6-2 run for the Lynx, allowing them to push their lead to 11 points, 28-17. Wheelock answered right back with a run of their own, outscoring Lesley 13-2 over the next seven minutes to notch it up at 30-30. Sobel led the charge, scoring nine of the 13 points during the run, including knocking down two from deep. With twenty-three seconds left, Semerjian garnered an offensive rebound off of a Daniel Higgins (Wakefield, Mass.) miss and put it back, giving the Wildcats a 32-30 lead heading into halftime.
The Lynx took away any built momentum by Wheelock at the end of the first, opening the second half on a 9-0 spurt which was capped by a pull-up fifteen-footer by Mattocks. With 10:10 left to play, consecutive buckets by Hudson and Semerjian cut the Lesley lead to just one, 45-44.
The Lynx answered back again, this time going on a 12-6 run led by Gladowski who took a feed from Mattocks on a fast break layup and then hit a three from the wing on the next possession. The Lynx, who struggled from the free throw line all night, connected on all four attempts in the final minute to cap the game. Lesley shot well down the stretch as they hit 48% from the floor in the second half and finished the game with 28 points in the paint.
The Lynx took care of the basketball, committing just six turnovers on the night while forcing 12 from the Wildcats.
Lesley takes the floor again this Thursday, January 31st as they play host to Mitchell College at 8:00p. Wheelock returns to action on Thursday as well as they travel to Southern Vermont for an 8:00p start.
