THE BASICS 
Lesley University, 56 vs. Maine Maritime Academy, 82

Records: 
Lesley University Lynx (3-12, 0-4, NAC)
Maine Maritime Mariners (6-5, 3-2, NAC) 

Location: Lexington, Mass. - Minuteman Gymnasium

Date: Friday, January 10, 2025

THE LEAD—The Lesley University men's basketball team hosted the Maine Maritime Academy Mariners for its North Atlantic Conference home-opener, where the visitors came away with an 82-56 Friday evening. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• In the opening moments of the first half, each side matched the other's play, and after the Mariners went up 9-7, CJ Leonard (Raynham, Mass.) evened things at nine on a fast break dunk after a nice look from Tavon Rhodes (Dorchester, Mass.). 
• Despite being tied at nine, Maine Maritime gave itself breathing room thanks to a 14-0 spurt for a 23-9 advantage before Tarell Joseph (Hempstead, N.Y.) broke up the momentum with a layup. During the Mariners surge of offense, Markus Ramirez led the way with six points highlighted by back-to-back threes. 
• After Joseph's layup, Lesley's offense started to chip away at the deficit and found themselves down five (24-19) with 04:08 until halftime, thanks to an 8-1 rally that included three different Lynx scorers. 
• However, the Mariners held off the Lynx for the rest of the first half and took a 34-26 lead into halftime.
• As the second quarter got underway, Joseph kicked things off for the squad after he knocked down a three that made it 34-29, but Maine Maritime would not let Lesley get any closer courtesy of a 21-9 run that made it 55-35 before a Lesley timeout. Jack Banks keyed the Mariners' scoring stretch with six points for the visitors.
• Coming out of the timeout, Maine Maritime would not let Lesley get any closer than 15, which led to an eventual 82-56 conference win. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS  

• Leonard led Lesley's offense with 13 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds on the night. 
• Rhodes and Christian Castro (Chesapeake, Va.) were the two other scorers in double-figures for the Lynx, each with 10 points.
• Curt Heinz's triple-double included game-highs in points (22), rebounds (21), and assists (10). 
• The Mariners had two other student-athletes score 10+ points in Ramirez (19) and Baks (18). 

UP NEXT

• Lesley concludes its two-game homestand with a NAC matchup versus Husson University on Sunday, January 12 at 3:00 p.m.