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Dante Simmons action
108
Winner North Carolina-Wesleyan NCW 4-3
66
Medgar Evers Cougars MEDGAR 2-7
Winner
North Carolina-Wesleyan NCW
4-3
108
Final
66
Medgar Evers Cougars MEDGAR
2-7
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
North Carolina-Wesleyan NCW 56 52 108
Medgar Evers Cougars MEDGAR 32 34 66
70
Medgar Evers MEDGAR 2-8 (0-1 CUNYAC)
77
Winner Manhattanville MVLMBB 7-3 (1-1 SKY)
Medgar Evers MEDGAR
2-8 (0-1 CUNYAC)
70
Final
77
Manhattanville MVLMBB
7-3 (1-1 SKY)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Medgar Evers MEDGAR 42 28 70
Manhattanville MVLMBB 33 44 77

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Cougars drop pair of non-conference games to North Carolina-Wesleyan, Manhattanville

The Cougars' men's basketball team is still searching for its first victory in December, as Medgar Evers dropped a pair of weekend contests, falling to North Carolina-Wesleyan, 108-66 Friday evening at the Cougars Cave, and losing to Manhattanville, 77-70, Sunday afternoon in Purchase, NY. With the pair of defeats, the Cougars dipped to 2-8 on the 2023-2024 campaign. The Fighting Bishops improved to a mark of 4-3 with their win, and Manhattanville upped its record to 7-2 with the Triumph.

Despite Medgar Evers' loss to North Carolina-Wesleyan, the Cougars were paced by veteran Dante Simmons, as he posted team-highs of 19 points and seven rebounds. He also tied for the game-high of three blocked shots, and added three steals. Point guard Andre Evans Jr. hit a pair of triples, finishing with 10 points, six rebounds, a game-high six assists, and two steals, and Joshua Jean Pierre finished with seven points, six rebounds, and three swatted shots.

For the Fighting Bishops, Austin Manley was stellar all evening, connecting on eight of his nine attempts from the floor, including six of seven attempts from downtown, to finish with a game-high 26 points. He also contributed five rebounds and a pair of assists. Three other North Carolina-Wesleyan players finished in double figures, including Shakei Hines (12 points, six rebound), Marquis Eskew (11 points, two assists), and Kyron Kelly (11 points, eight rebounds). Jalen Mattocks led all players with 10 rebounds on the evening.

North Carolina-Wesleyan never trailed in the game, racing out to leads of 5-0 and 11-4. After Dante Simmons converted on a layup and made an ensuing free throw to slice the Cougars' deficit to four, 11-7, the Fighting Bishops' Eskew drained a triple on the next possession, putting the visitors ahead 14-7.

Later, trailing 26-13 with 9:57 remaining in the first half, the Cougars scored four consecutive points, courtesy of two made free throws by Simmons, and a converted jumper by Nicholas Guillen, to pull to within nine, 26-17. On the Fighting Bishops' next possession, Justin Burden converted on a layup to give the visitors a double-digit lead again, 28-17. North Carolina Wesleyan would never lead by less than double digits again, as the Fighting Bishops went up as many as 27 in the first half before taking a 56-32 edge into the locker room at halftime.

Medgar Evers showed some signs of life in the early stages of the second session. Trailing 63-38, the Cougars used a 7-0 run over a span of 3:06 to pull to within 18 (63-45) with still 14:25 remaining. It was all North Carolina-Wesleyan from there, though, as the visitors outscored the Cougars 45-21 the rest of the way to win the game by a score of 108-66.

The Fighting Bishops put on a clinic shooting the basketball, converting on 52.1 percent of their shots overall (38-73), including a 50 percent clip from downtown (7-14). North Carolina-Wesleyan also hit 25 of its 30 attempts from the line, earning an 83.3 percent conversion rate. Medgar Evers shot just over 31 percent (31.4 percent), hitting 27 of 86 shots. The Cougars misfired on 15 trifectas (4-19, 21.1 percent), and were just eight for 17 from the stripe (47.1 percent). The visitors held a dominating 62-40 edge in the rebounding department, while also registering 23 assists compared to 11 for the hosts. The game featured a total of 20 blocked shots, 13 by the Fighting Bishops and seven by the Cougars. Medgar Evers did win the turnover battle, committing 17 miscues while the visitors had 23.

In Medgar Evers' loss to the Valiants, Pierre posted game-highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds, while also adding three assists and swiping three steals. Guillen contributed 16 points, five rebounds, and three steals, and Michael Perez scored 12 points while registering a pair of assists.

Manhattanville was paced by the fantastic all-around effort of Tommy Lotito, as he nearly finished with a triple-double, posting a team-high 17 points, a game-high 10 assists, and a team-best eight rebounds. John Ranaghan finished with 16 points, four rebounds, and two dimes, and Ryan Giordano scored 15 points, snatched five rebounds, swatted a pair of shits, and added two assists.

Medgar Evers raced out to an early 5-0 advantage in the opening 60 seconds thanks to a pair of converted jumpers via Guillen, one of them being a trifecta. The Cougars later led 14-8, before a 12-6 run by Manhattanville over a span of 3:43 tied the game at 20 apiece. The pendulum then swung the visitors' way, as the Cougars used a 7-0 spurt (courtesy of converted baskets by Jerome Hodges and Pierre, and a made triple by Nicholas Bocharov) to jump back ahead 27-20.

With 6:21 remaining in the opening half, Medgar Evers took its biggest lead of the game when Perez drained a shot from downtown, giving the Cougars a 14-point advantage, 35-21. The Cougars would eventually head into the locker room with a nine-point lead, 42-33.

The Cougars used the first 2:14 of the second half using a 6-0 run to snatch a 48-33 advantage. From this point forward, it was all Manhattanville. Over a span of 6:28, the hosts outscored Medgar Evers 21-6, tying the game at 54-all. Later, with 9:20 left in the game and the Cougars holding a slim 58-56 advantage, the Valiants took the lead for good when Ranaghan connected on a triple to give Manhattanville a 59-58 lead.

Later, Manhattanville led 67-65 with 4:41 remaining, and the Valiants closed out the game with solid defense and clutch free throw efficiency. Medgar Evers was only able to convert on two field goals for the rest of the afternoon, and Manhattanville connected on five of six free throw attempts to close the game out.

The Cougars lost the game despite shooting 46.8 percent (29-62) from the floor. Manhattanville hit on 28 of its 61 attempts (45.9) on the afternoon. The Valiants held a slim 37-34 edge on the glass, while also dishing 21 assists compared to 17 for the Cougars. Megdar Evers led in the steals category, 12-8, while also swatting seven shots compared to three for Manhattanville. The Valiants won the turnover battle, committing 19 miscues compared to 22 for the Cougars.

Medgar Evers will now have 11 days off before returning to the court on Friday afternoon, December 22, as the Cougars will take on Division I New Jersey Institute of Technology. The game will serve as an exhibition contest for the Cougars, but will be a regular season game for the Highlanders. Start time at the Joel & Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center (WEC) is scheduled for 1:00pm.
 
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