Men's basketball shoots strong but falls to SCSU
SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - A strong shooting day was not enough as the American International College men's basketball team fell 86-76 to Southern Connecticut State University in the team's home finale on February 18.
AIC drops to 5-22 with a 3-16 Northeast-10 Conference mark.
The Yellow Jackets got off to a strong start with a layup by Jack Hall and a three by Justice Ellison. They pushed their lead to seven as Jalen Jordan hit free throws and then found Aguibou Balde open for a jumper. However, the Owls went on a run to take an 11-9 advantage, and from there it was a back-and-forth battle as the guests tried to pull away only to have the home team bounce back each time. After a Jordan triple made it 20-19 Owls, the visitors took a timeout with 7:25 to play.
AIC continued to keep it close off the break, but a Sean James three helped the Owls start to pull away. Down the stretch of the quarter they outscored AIC to take a 40-31 lead into halftime.
In the second half, AIC kept battling, and the Owls saw a 14-point lead evaporate. Hall started AIC's comeback push with a triple, and Jordan followed with another. He added a further hit from deep to cut the deficit to 49-44, and then Ellison buried two free throws before Buka Peikrishvili set up Omarion Jett-Dobbs for an open shot from downtown to tie the game. The teams then traded threes again, and once more the Owls struggled to get and expand the lead. Through the midpoint of the half, Southern Connecticut's edge was 62-59.
The visiting team finally pulled ahead for good with a seven point run, re-extending its lead to 10 points late in the half. AIC cut it back to four with more threes, and down to 77-74 after Balde hit a layup with 2:27 to play, but a Ulyen Coleman three iced the game as the Owls closed with free throws to win 84-74.
Ellison, Hall, Jordan, and Jett-Dobbs all scored in double figures, with 19, 18, 17, and 15 respectively. The quartet combined to go 23-of-47 from the field, including 11-of-22 from deep.
AIC closes the 2022-23 regular season at Bentley University on Tuesday, February 21 at 7:30 p.m.