Men's Basketball Breaks into Win Column with Victory over Sarah Lawrence
Nashua, NH - The Framingham State University Rams took home third place in the 2012 Rivier University/Coca-Cola Tip-Off Tournament as they defeated Sarah Lawrence College 74-14 this afternoon at the Muldoon Gymnasium on the campus of Rivier University.
The Rams scored their first points when junior Adeyemi Ajao (Randolph, Mass.) laid one up just 20 seconds into the game sparking a 16-0 run before Sarah Lawrence's senior Francis Oppong (Brooklyn, NY) hit a layup at 14:11.
The Gryphons would score just one more basket, a Juan Scure (Caracas, Venezuela) jumper with 2:12 remaining as Framingham State took a commanding 44-4 lead at halftime.
Ajao went 6-for-7 from the floor as he had 16 points to lead the Rams in the first half. Ajao also collected eight of the team's 25 first half rebounds.
Sarah Lawrence played better to begin the second half as they held Framingham State to just six points early on. However, the Rams offense was just too much as they used a 13-3 run over the final seven minutes to close out the victory.
Ajao was the game's leading scorer as he finished with 18 points. Both Saleek Marshall (Avon, Mass.) and Justin Bryan (Red Oak, TX) recorded double-digit efforts as they had 13 and 10 points, respectively.
A trio of Gryphons paced the offense with four points apiece. Oppong was joined by junior Greg Smith (Tampa, FL) and sophomore Malcolm Knowles (Houston, Texas) as the leading scorers while Oppong had a team high eight rebounds.
For their efforts, both Framingham State's Ajao and Sarah Lawrence's Smith were named to the 2012 Rivier University/Coca-Cola All-Tournament team. In the two games they played, Ajao averaged 15.0 points per game and totaled 13 rebounds. He was also 16-for-18 at the line in both contests. Smith totaled 15 points and 12 rebounds in the tournament.
Framingham State (1-1) will host Newbury College on Tuesday, November 20th (6 p.m.) in their home opener at the Framingham State Athletic and Recreation Center. Sarah Lawrence (0-2) will continue to be on the road as they travel to Brooklyn, NY and battle NYU-Polytechnic on Monday, November 19th 7 p.m.
Release courtesy of Rivier Sports Information.