BROOKLYN – Pratt Institute held The King's (NY) College scoreless for nearly six minutes in a crucial stretch late in the first half in the Cannoneers 66-53 win over the visiting Lions Friday night at the ARC.
Junior Ari Grant led all players with a career-high 19 rebounds, six assists and three blocks to go along with 18 points, clinching a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards by halftime. Andrew Yaglenski also played all 40 minutes in tossing in a game-high 21 points, six coming in a crucial second-half stretch that countered a King's three-point barrage. All together, Pratt held King's to 33 percent shooting from the floor.
The Lions took an early 7-4 lead on a pair of James Brooks jumpers, but Yaglenski's three-point play just inside the 17:00 mark tied the contest at 7-7. A Grant three-pointer from the top of the key handed Pratt a 12-9 lead, and after the Cannoneers controlled the majority of the period, King's Jordan McGuinness knocked down a jumper from the elbow to bring the visitors to within 21-20.
Pratt then held the Lions scoreless over a period spanning 5:59, as Yaglenski scored four points in a 9-0 run that extended the Cannoneers lead to 10, at 30-20, and the teams entered halftime at 30-22.
King's entered the intermission reeling, but the Lions nipped away before catching fire and overcoming the one-time double-digit deficit later in the second. An Eli Davis layup at the 11:40 mark pulled King's to within 36-34, and a McGinnis three-pointer three minutes tied the game at 40-40 before Josiah Chapman's three pointer with 7:15 to play gave King's its first lead of the half, 43-42. What became a shootout between he Yaglenski, with Chapman adding another triple mixed in with three Yaglenski baskets from the block was eventually settled by another Pratt freshman guard.
Yaglenski's third runner swung Pratt back on top at 48-44 inside the 6:00 mark, then Cannoneers guard Adam Blufarb came alive with a three-pointer and a lay-in in a span of 47 seconds in upping Pratt's lead to five, 53-48. A Tytus Millikan three-point play with 2:28 to play and four straight Cannoneers free throws in the final minute locked up Pratt's 66-53 win, its first in HVIAC play.
For King's, Brooks led the way with 16 points on 7-14 shooting, and McGinnis added 12 points and seven rebounds as the team fell to 2-7.
Pratt returns to play in a week, travelling to St. Joseph's of Long Island in non-conference play.
