BROOKLYN – Pratt Institute knocked off Landmark College in both teams' season opener Friday night, shooting an efficient 50 percent in besting the Sharks 73-57 in non-conference men's basketball play at the Pratt ARC.
Pratt was led by Ari Grant's 18 points, 13 rebounds and five assists -- all game highs -- on 7-16 shooting. Freshman Tytus Millikan provided an impactful Pratt debut, scoring 11 points on 5-8 shooting to go along with 12 boards and a team-best three steals, the duo chiefly responsible for Pratt's 51-29 rebounding advantage.
Junior guard Mehmet Doganata tallied 16 points on an efficient 7-8 from the floor, and freshman guard Andrew Yaglenski rounded out four Cannoneers in double figures, hitting on 5-11 for his 13 points.
Grant scored the game's first six points as Pratt opened its season on a 10-0 run. The Cannoneers raced to a 19-4 lead and went ahead 21-6 on a Doganata layup at the midway point of the half.
Landmark center Raheem Barnaby's layup just inside the 6:00 mark trimmed the margin to 22-16, but Pratt responded with eight straight, the final four from Doganata, to extend the lead to 30-18 and go into halftime leading 34-21.
In the first two minutes out of the intermission, Barnaby twice cut the margin to 10, but the Sharks never dipped into single digits thanks to a Pratt defense that held the visitors to 35 percent (22-63) shooting. Yaglenski scored nine of his 11 after the break, as Pratt hit on 52 percent from the floor in the second half (17-33) and an even 50 percent (31-62) for the game in sealing its season opener.
In addition to outshooting the Sharks by 15 percent, the Cannoneers earned a 51-29 advantage on the glass. After Grant's 13 and Millikan's 12, freshman Khari Jones followed with nine, seven of which came on the offensive end.
For Landmark, Barnaby earned a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds in 30 minutes.
Pratt returns to the court tomorrow at 2:00 at the ARC, playing host to Albany Pharmacy, while Landmark travels to The King's (NY) College on Saturday.
