Box Score
NORTHFIELD, Vt. - Lamonte Thomas poured in a
game-high 24 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, and
Darren Faust scored 22 points to lead Johnson & Wales to an
84-72 victory over Norwich in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference
(GNAC) men's basketball game Saturday afternoon at Andrews Hall.
Justin Adams added 13 points for the Wildcats, who improve to
10-14 (9-8 GNAC). Calvin Jones chipped in 10 points, seven rebounds
and a game-high six assists for JWU, which shot a blistering 60.0
percent (15-of-25) in the second half to pull away from Norwich.
Robert Thurman led the Cadets (6-17, 4-12 GNAC) with a team-high
18 points and a team-best eight rebounds. Mike Filipek added 12
points for NU, while Antonio Davis scored 11. Jaren Jeffcoat posted
nine points, and Darell Marshall contributed eight points and a
team-high four assists.
Johnson & Wales used a 24-5 run midway through the second
half to turn a 47-45 deficit at the 14:47 mark into a 69-52 lead
with 8:51 to play. Thomas and Faust combined for 21 of the
Wildcats' 24 points during the surge, which gave the visitors their
largest lead of the game.
Norwich refused to quit, though, scoring seven straight points
to cut its deficit down to 10 points at 69-59 at the 5:43 mark. A
pair of lay-ups by Marcus Crenshaw gave JWU a 77-63 lead with 3:38
to play, but a 7-0 spurt by the Cadets made it 77-70 with 1:23
left. That was as close as NU would get, however, as Johnson &
Wales converted 5-of-6 free throws in the final 43 seconds to ice
the game.
The first half was tight throughout with neither team able to
pull away from the other. There were a total of five ties and six
lead changes in the opening stanza. Norwich outscored Johnson &
Wales 14-9 over the final 3:58 of the half to take a 36-32 lead
into halftime.
Both teams shot exactly the same from the floor in the first
half, with both squads making 10-of-31 field goals (32.3 percent).
The Wildcats held the edge from three-point range, burying five
triples to just one for the Cadets. NU converted more free throws,
though, making 15-of-19, while JWU made only 7-of-12.
For the game, Johnson & Wales shot 44.6 percent from the
field, while Norwich made just 39.9 percent of its shots. JWU made
11-of-25 three-pointers (44.0 percent), while NU was just 3-of-11
from behind the arc. The Wildcats made 16-of-19 free throws after
halftime, and 23-of-31 (74.2 percent) for the game. The Cadets,
meanwhile, connected on 25-of-33 (75.8 percent) from the charity
stripe. Johnson & Wales held a 37-32 rebounding edge.
Norwich returns to action on Tuesday, Feb. 17, when the Cadets
travel to Boston, Mass., to tangle with GNAC rival Suffolk at 7
p.m. Norwich will be looking to even the season series after
dropping an 82-77 decision to the Rams on Jan. 24, in Northfield.
