By Jordan Washington
Correspondent
The Lions attempted to get their first win of the season at the Building Services Group Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. The weekend tournament lasted from Nov. 16 to Nov. 17.
On Nov. 16, the Lions defeated Cazenovia College 85-79 and got the team’s first win of the season. Though the team took an early lead, a 13-0 Cazenovia run put the Lions behind early. Cazenovia College’s biggest lead was by 13 in the first half.
The Lions used the longball to help them keep eventually win the game. The team shot 14/31— 45.2 percent from the three-point line. Despite the lights out shooting from the three-point line, their free throw shooting did not follow suit as they shot 13/19, 68.4 percent.
“Shooting threes has always been a part of our game plan,” said Head Coach Matthew Goldsmith. “We recruit for it and run an offense that emphasizes it.”
Senior forward Jordan Glover lead the team to score 21 points — shooting 57.1 percent. Junior guard Niall Carpenter helped out with 18 points and junior guard Randall Walko had 16 points.
With the win on Friday night, the Lions went on to face Nazareth College on Nov. 17 for a 3 p.m. match. It was a hard-fought game that went into overtime as a result of Carpenter’s game-tying three.
The Lions found themselves down 13 again in this game, but this time Walko helped in the comeback with an astounding 29 points on 58 percent shooting. Glover also chipped in with 20 points, which included five threes.
The team had a slow start against Nazareth.
“I think we are a bit immature as a group and slow starts come with that,” Goldsmith said.
The team was only outrebounded by three, and each team had very similar field goal percentages. The biggest difference between both teams was free throw shooting. Nazareth shot 27 out of 30 — 90 percent from the stripe while the Lions struggled again, shooting 62 percent.
The team fell 95-99, turning its overall record to 1-2. Despite the loss, standouts Walko and Carpenter were named to the All-Tournament team.
The Lions hope to bounce back in their first NJAC conference game against Stockton University on Nov. 20, in Pomona, New Jersey.
