Strong offensive showing leads Men's Basketball past Franklin Pierce

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - Season and career highs were set across the roster as the American International College men's basketball team earned an 83-64 victory over Franklin Pierce University in Northeast-10 Conference play on Saturday, February 3.

AIC is now 8-13 overall and 6-9 in the NE10.

Though R.J. Delahaye made the game's first field goal, a three for the Ravens, AIC quickly took the lead, thanks in no small part to back-to-back possessions ending in triples from Kanye Wavezwa to put AIC ahead 10-4 just shy of five minutes into the matchup. Every time the Ravens closed the gap, the Yellow Jackets found a way to re-extend the lead, including a Jalen Jordan three off of a pass from Buka Peikrishvili following a timeout. That shot gave AIC an advantage of 17-11 with just over nine minutes remaining in the opening half.

The rest of the half was the same. The Ravens notched baskets that the Yellow Jackets countered with their own, and though late in the period the guests cut the deficit to two, the final bucket of the frame was an emphatic Aguibou Balde dunk from Lovre Zaja, giving AIC the 30-26 lead it ultimately took into the stoppage. 

AIC came out firing on all cylinders offensively to start the second, with Ellison, Balde, Jacob Barnett, and Wavezwa scoring on successive possessions; the last was another three from Wavezwa, and expanded AIC's lead to nine. A later Ellison three pushed the advantage past 10, before a surge by Franklin Pierce once again shrank AIC's lead, this time to 48-44 with 12:20 to play, forcing a timeout.

Balde came out of the timeout with the answer in the form of another slam for AIC, but the Ravens punched in one of their own at the other end, and the teams traded layups and even went triple for triple near the middle of the period. However, the next three possessions belonged to AIC, with Balde finishing two different passes from Peikrishvili, and an Ellison shot from deep restoring the 11-point edge at 62-51.

AIC only built from there. Barnett and Ellison both notched a pair of three-point plays, with Ellison hitting two from beyond the arc and Barnett launching one from distance and adding an old-school three by finishing through contact and hitting the free throw. The duo each had one more field goal in them before Head Coach Andy Burkholder emptied the bench, allowing for a Loudon Chupas three from Aasim Gunther to serve as an exclamation point on the 83-64 win.

Ellison added to his NE10 scoring lead with 25 points and a season-best five threes; Balde scored a double-double with 12 points and a dozen rebounds to match, the latter a career high. Peikrishvili's six assists were likewise a career topper, while Barnett scored 16 points, Wavezwa posted 11, and Jordan put up nine to round out AIC's offense. 

The team will face Assumption University next on Wednesday, February 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Butova Gym.