Men’s Basketball Holds Off Newbury for 60-59 Victory
Release by Andrew Mowry
Framingham, Mass. – The Framingham State University Rams were able to escape with a 60-59 victory over the Newbury Nighthawks on Tuesday night in non-conference men's basketball action to improve to 2-1 on the season.
With the Rams leading by three with 13.8 seconds left, junior Eric Watson (New Rochelle, NY) opted to go for a lay-up rather than a game tying three for the Nighthawks. The Nighthawks were forced to foul. The Rams missed both free throws with only 1.7 seconds remaining on the clock giving the visitors a chance, but the Newbury full-court heave came up short to secure the win for the Rams.
Junior captain Yemi Ajao (Randolph, Mass.) had a team-high 13 points while junior Elijah Chisholm (East Boston, Mass.) and senior Tyrone Figueroa (Revere, Mass.) each had 10 points for the Rams. Figueroa was playing in his first game of the season after helping lead Framingham State football to their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance last Saturday.
Head Coach Paul Wholey of the Rams said after, "Figgy is coming right from football and he was only able to practice once this week. He wasn't his best, but I don't think we win that game without him."
Watson had a game-high 15 points and eight rebounds in the losing effort for Newbury, who fell to 1-2 on the year.
Head Coach Jelani Townsell sounded disappointed after the loss stating, "We outmatched them in size, but they outmatched us in effort and heart tonight, that's not what we teach." Townsell also was not a fan of the 21 second chance points the Rams scored on 20 offensive rebounds.
Ten different Rams saw significant action tonight, as senior captain Rico DePaolis (Watertown, Mass.) would later say, "We had freshman not playing scared down the stretch, that's good for confidence as the season goes on."
Despite the win, the Rams only shot 50% from the free-throw line and just under 16% from three.
Coach Wholey said he was concerned with the poor shooting at the line but also noted that six of his players had very little college basketball experience and that confidence at the line will come over time.
The season will pick back up for the Rams November 27th, when they will take on Lesley at home starting at 6 p.m. The Nighthawks will play their next three games on the road, before returning home to take on Wheelock College on December 4 to begin division play.