MORRISTOWN, N.J. — Despite a pair of 20-point games from first-years Cameron Windt and Jaden Young, the Pratt Institute men's basketball team opened a five-game road stand with an 81-68 defeat to St. Elizabeth University on Monday evening.
Windt led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-19 shooting with four triples and three three-pointers. It's the eighth 20-point game of the season for the C2C-leading scorer. Young finished in double-figures for the third-straight game posting a season-high 23 points on an efficient 8-of-11 shooting night, with six boards and three assists. Senior Patrick O'Gorman chipped in eight points, three rebounds and two assists, snapping a streak of 10 games scoring in double figures. Mekhi Davis added five points and Quinn McCormick pulled down eight boards.
Pratt (7-12) led for over five minutes in the early going with neither team able to build a two-possession lead before the Eagles (12-10) assembled scored nine straight to and closed out the final eight minutes outscoring the Cannoneers 25-7 for a 39-23 advantage headed into the lockers.
The black-and-gold fell behind by as many as 28 in the second stanza, 74-46, before closing out the final 8:44 on a 22-7 spurt – Windt and Young scoring 10 each – to cut the final deficit to 13.
Malamin Kaba packed four Eagles in double-figures with 17 points off the bench. Tye-Rell Monroe added 13 and Jonathan Ramos contributed 12. St. Elizabeth shot 47 percent as a team (29-of-62) while Pratt connected on 43 percent (23-of-54). The Eagles also made the most of a 24-17 turnover disparity for a 27-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
Pratt travels to Scranton, Pennsylvania to face future Atlantic East Conference rivals Marywood University on Saturday, February 3 in a 1 p.m. showdown.
