BROOKLYN – The Cannoneers sailed away late on the strength of a 14-2 run to close out a 70-53 victory over The New School Monday night in non-conference men's basketball play at the ARC.
Pratt's Ari Grant led all players with a mammoth effort of 22 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals. Freshman center Khari Jones totaled eight points, 12 boards and blocked a season- and game-high eight shots as Pratt's late run turned what was a close game for 35 minutes into a lopsided final.
The teams exchanged leads early, and a Mehmet Dognata jumper with 6:20 left in the first put Pratt on top at 19-18. New School's Max Restarar cut the margin back down to one at 29-28 with a three-pointer with a minute remaining, but an Adam Blufarb trey with 38 seconds remaining sent Pratt into the locker room leading 32-28.
Out of halftime, a New School 8-0 run capped by a Ty Anania layup pulled the Narwhals back on top at 36-33 at the 14:28 mark. With Pratt trailing 45-43, two Tytus Millikan baskets followed by two from Grant sparked an 8-0 run that swung Pratt on top for good. Back-to-back Narwhals layups pulled the visitors to within 56-51 at the 5:00 mark, but four different Cannoneers combined on an 8-0 run to go ahead 13 with under two minutes to play. Six free throws in the final 1:19 then put the icing on a 70-53 victory, evening Pratt's record at 3-3.
Millikan scored 15 on 5-10 shooting and a 5-6 effort at the stripe, and Andrew Yaglenski added 13 points over a season-high 39 minutes.
For The New School (3-2), HJ Gaskins totaled 19 points on 4-8 shooting from three-point range, and Dustin Sodano hit 3-10 from deep for 11 points.
Pratt returns to play on Tuesday, December 4 against Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe Vaughn College.
