BROOKLYN – The Pratt Institute men's basketball team couldn't match the offensive output of Paul Smith's College, eventually falling to the Bobcats 74-53 on Tuesday afternoon at the ARC.
Paul Smith's College shot 50.8 percent (32-63) from the field as compared to just 29.6 percent (16-54) for the Cannoneers.
"Today was tough," stated head coach Max Sass following the game. "We did a really good job defensively in the first half by holding them to just 26 points. But for whatever reason our defensive energy dropped in the second half. Going forward we got to make some changes to get different results."
Facing an early 10-4 deficit, Eric Xue's 3-pointer got Pratt within one possession, 10-7 midway through the opening frame. Down 11 with under two minutes to play in the first half, Bubby Vernon and Andrew Yaglenski each drained a pair of free throws to trim the Bobcat lead to single digits. At the half, Paul Smith's held a 26-18 lead over Pratt.
Paul Smith's opened the second half with a 17-2 run, extending the lead to a game-high 23 over the Cannoneers. Back-to-back layups by Yaglenski and a deep Bubby Vernon three began to slowly chip away at the Bobcat advantage. For Pratt, however, it was unable to get any closer as clutch shooting from the Bobcat's allowed them to coast to the 74-53 victory.
For the Cannoneers, Bubby Vernon led all scorers with 18 points, while Andrew Yaglenski and Akil Philip added 14 and 11 points, respectively.
UP NEXT – The Cannoneers return to action on Thursday, January 4, when they travel to Pennsylvania to take on the Nittany Lions of Penn State –Abington. A noon tipoff is scheduled.
