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Dante Simmons All Tournament
77
Medgar Evers MEC 1-1
88
Winner Univ. of New England UNE 1-1
Medgar Evers MEC
1-1
77
Final
88
Univ. of New England UNE
1-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Medgar Evers MEC 38 39 77
Univ. of New England UNE 51 37 88
92
Winner Eastern Connecticut ECSU 1-2
70
Medgar Evers MEC 1-2
Winner
Eastern Connecticut ECSU
1-2
92
Final
70
Medgar Evers MEC
1-2
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Eastern Connecticut ECSU 41 51 92
Medgar Evers MEC 37 33 70

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men's basketball suffers pair of defeats at Jim Beaudry Classic in Biddeford, Maine

The Medgar Evers men's basketball team dropped a pair of games in the Jim Beaudry Classic, falling to the host school, the University of New England, 88-77 on Saturday evening, before dropping a game to Eastern Connecticut State earlier today, 92-70. The games took place at the Harold Alfond Forum in Biddeford, Maine. With the defeats, the Cougars are now 1-2 on the 2023-2024 campaign.

Despite Medgar Evers' loss to the Nor'Easters, the Cougars were led by newcomer Nicholas Guillen, as he scored a team-high 18 points, connecting on four trifectas in the process. Veteran Dante Simmons posted a double-double with 15 points, a team-best 10 boards, and a game-high seven steals. Finally, it was newcomer Jerome Hodges finishing with eight points, six boards, and two swatted shots.

The University of New England was paced by Adrian Torres in its victory, as he drained 11 of his 16 attempts from the floor, finishing with game-highs of 23 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and three swatted shots. His six steals were also a team-high. Adam Lux nearly posted a double-double, as he scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and blocked two shots, and Jayden Thornton drained three trifectas, and five of his seven attempts from the charity stripe, finishing with 16 points. Finally, Zach Boulay added 11 points and seven boards.

With the pace of a track meet, the game featured three lead changes and six ties in the opening 12:19 of the opening half, and the teams found themselves knotted at 31 apiece. A drained shot from downtown by Lux gave the hosts the lead for good, and the Nor'Easters used a 12-0 run to catapult to a commanding 48-35 advantage with 1:47 left in the session. The teams scored three points apiece in the final stages of the half, and the University of New England took a 51-38 into the locker room at halftime.

Coming out of the intermission facing a 51-38 deficit, the Cougars netted the first seven of the second period and, by the 14:37 mark, Medgar Evers had sliced the Nor'Easters lead to three points, 56-53. Over the course of that aforementioned 15-5 run, Simmons scored six points, with Joshua Jean Pierre adding four. The University of New England, however, responded with 12 consecutive points over a span of 3:45 to increase its edge to 15, 68-53; Torres accounted for eight points during the run, and Dylan Crowley added the other four.

Medgar Evers did manage to reduce the gap back into single digits for a moment at 79-70, only to see the Nor'Easters respond with a 7-0 run. Kyle Lombardi tallied all of his five points to cap the burst with 2:02 remaining.

The Nor'easters shot 45 percent from the field (34-for-76), against the 35 percent (28-of-80) by Medgar Evers. The University of New England held a 54-34 advantage scoring in the paint, and had double the success (24-12) converting turnovers into points (18 turnovers by both teams).

Medgar Evers held a slight 52-51 edge in the rebounding department, while also tallying 15 steals compared to 10 for the hosts.

In the Cougars' loss to the Warriors of Eastern Connecticut State University, Simmons led the way for Medgar, finalizing his afternoon with a game-high 19 points while tying for the team-high of eight rebounds. He also contributed three assists while adding two steals. He was selected to the All-Tournament team following the contest. In addition, Hodges finished with 11 points and four rebounds, and Jean Pierre had a nice all-around game, finishing with eight points and eight boards.

The Warriors were led by Jalen Hamblin in their victory, as the youngster connected on 12 of his 18 attempts from the floor, finishing with game-highs of 29 points and 13 rebounds. Ty Calloway added 14 points, and Jeremiah Graham nearly posted a double-double, finishing with 12 points and nine rebounds. Finally, it was Cade Esinger registering 12 points and grabbing five rebounds.

In a seesaw first half where neither team led by more than six points -- a 13-2 Cougar run put Medgar Evers College ahead 32-27 with six minutes left in the session. The Warriors' Hamblin kept the Warriors afloat by scoring nearly half (18) of the team's 41 points on 8-of-10 field goal shooting, and snatching eight of the team's 21 boards. Eastern Connecticut State University finished the half on a 14-5 run to take a 41-37 advantage into the locker room as the curtain dropped on the first half.

The Warriors used the momentum they built in the latter stages of the first half to score nine of the first 11 points of the second session to grab a 50-39 edge. That lead would never dip below eight for the remainder of the contest. That early scoring run was fueled by a pair of converted baskets by Elijah Jean-Guillaume, a trifecta from Ensinger, and a basket by Hamlin.

After the Cougars pulled to within 13 with three minutes left, Calloway drained a three-pointer off to put Eastern Connecticut back up by 16 (63-47). Despite multiple opportunities, Medgar Evers was never able to slice the Warriors' lead to single digits. Eastern Connecticut finished the game on a 21-10 run, eventually winning the contest by 22.

Eastern shot 50 percent in the game, drained 45 percent of its shots from downtown (9-20), out-rebounded Medgar Evers 41-33, and won the turnover battle, committing just 13 miscues while forcing 21 Cougar mistakes.

Medgar Evers will look to get back in the win column on Tuesday evening, as the team heads back to Brooklyn to take on SUNY Maritime at the Cougars Cave. Start-time is scheduled for 8:00pm.
 
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