Late surge leads men's basketball by Queens

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College men's basketball team pulled away late in a 64-55 win over Queens College of New York in a nonconference tilt at the Henry Butova Gymnasium on Sunday, November 27.

AIC's record stands at 2-4 with a 1-0 Northeast-10 Conference mark.

It was a slow open for AIC, which did not hit its first basket until over two and a half minutes in when Jack Hall scored a jumper to tie the game 2-2. That started an offensive flurry that featured a Hall triple and a Buka Peikrishvili bucket to push AIC ahead 7-6. The teams kept trading shots through the midpoint of the frame, with Kanye Wavezwa finishing a three from Omarion Jett-Dopps and Aguibou Balde sinking a shot to push AIC's lead to 18-13.

The next three minutes only featured scoring from the stripe; Jalen Jordan was fouled firing a three and hit each of the freebies, but Sunnie Diamond drew back-to-back shooting fouls, the latter also on a three attempt, and sank all five to cut AIC's edge down to five. Tyler Carey and Jett-Dobbs broke the field goal scoring drought with just over six minutes to play, and then a turnover led to another AIC score, forcing the Knights to take a timeout with 5:56 to play in the half, down 27-20.

The timeout helped; Carey slammed in a pass from Tyron Wright, and though Balde countered with a jumper for AIC, the Knights got hot from there, and a Shamar Chester three pushed Queens back into the lead, 30-29; they ultimately led 32-30 going into the break.

Right out of halftime, AIC scored on its first two possessions to regain the edge, as Jordan and Carlos Hubb both hit shots, but Chester sank back-to-back threes to put Queens up by four. The ball went back and forth into the hoops at both ends from there, with the teams trading leads multiple times through the first 12 minutes of the half.

Clinging to a three-point lead with under seven to play, Hall landed another deep shot to open the game up at 50-44. The Knights countered with four points to close back in, but Wavezwa hit arguably the biggest shot of the night, a corner three that went home despite contact, and he added the free throw for a rare four-point play with 4:34 remaining, returning AIC's lead to six. The Knights never recovered, and AIC closed out with a strong showing at the line, hitting all eight chances to put away the 64-55 win. 

Justice Ellison and Balde both had 12 points to lead AIC, while Hall added 11; Balde and Peikrishvili shared the team lead with seven boards, while Jett-Dobbs chipped in eight points and five assists. As a team, AIC was strong inside the arc, shooting 19-of-37 on twos and going 14-of-16 at the line, and also took good care of the ball, with just eight turnovers. 

The team returns to NE10 play Wednesday, November 30 with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff against the University of New Haven.