SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College men's basketball team put together one of its most complete games of the season, downing Franklin Pierce University 93-74 in the Northeast-10 Conference regular season finale on Tuesday, February 25. 

AIC finishes the regular season 4-24 overall with a 3-17 NE10 mark.

From the opening score, where Justice Ellison swiped the ball and sent Tyrae Washington streaking in for a layup, it was clear that the Yellow Jackets came to play, and they took control early on with threes by Lovre Zaja and Jack Hall. Washington and Coleman Hopson knocked in triples as well, and Washington also added a highlight dunk for a 21-14 advantage less than six minutes in.

Ellison put home another shot and then set up Kanye Wavezwa from deep, helping AIC to double up the Ravens, 28-14, and the Yellow Jackets kept it going, with back-to-back triples out of Wavezwa for a 36-18 lead. They kept making shot after shot down the stretch, and Abdullah Mahamed capped things off with a bucket for a 50-36 advantage at the halftime break.

The second half saw more of the same, with spectacular plays including a trio of dunks, with two by Washington and one by Ellison, and a pair of Mahamed blocks. Overall, AIC hit six threes in the half as well, and simply never let the Ravens come close, sealing the win and passing the Ravens in the standings in the process.

Ellison, Hall, Wavezwa, Zaja, Hopson, and Washington all cleared double digits in points, with Ellison leading the team with 19. Zaja also snared seven boards and dished seven assists, while Hall passed out four helpers and made four steals. 

Ellison ended the regular season as the NE10's leading scorer for the second year in a row, becoming the ninth men's basketball player to repeat as the conference's scoring champion. The only other Yellow Jacket men's player to do so was three-time NBA Champion Mario Elie '85, who did so in 1983-84 and 1984-85. 

AIC now turns its attention to the postseason; as the tenth-seeded team, the Yellow Jackets will face Saint Anselm College in the Northeast-10 Championship Tournament First Round on Friday, February 28. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. in Manchester, New Hampshire.