BROOKYLYN, N.Y. - After 40 minutes of closely-contested basketball, the Sarah Lawrence College men's basketball team fell to the Pratt Institute Cannoneers by a score of 77-71 on Friday evening. The Gryphons have four more contests before the winter break, including their Skyline opener on December 7th against Mount Saint Mary.

By the Numbers

• First Year Brady Burman led the Gryphons in scoring with 16 points and added five rebounds
• Justin DiFabio scored 14 points for the Gryphons while grabbing four rebounds
• Sophomore Amos Grey scored nine points, pulled down nine points, and dished out six assists in the losing effort

How it Happened
The Sarah Lawrence offense came to life in the first half thanks to 12 first-half points by Brady Burman in what would turn into a career-best scoring performance for the first year from San Diego. The teams traded baskets for the majority of the first 20 minutes, with neither team able to pull away by more than three points within the final 12 minutes of the half. A DiFabio three-pointer with 4:56 remaining in the first half gave the Gryphons a 28-25 lead but free-throws on two consecutive possessions for the Cannoneers would tie the game up once again and continue the back-and-forth nature of the half. In the remainder of the quarter, the two teams would find themselves tied five more times before Pratt's Patrick O'Gorman converted on a jump shot with 38 seconds left to give the Cannoneers a 41-38 lead going into halftime.

The second half was overall a similar story, with lead changes and ties going back-and-forth between the two teams with neither able to pull away. The beginning of the half looked like Pratt had a chance to distance themself from the Gryphons but a steal by Grey led to two of DiFabio's 14 points and helped bring the lead down to four points for the Canonneers. With just over 13 minutes remaining, Chris Torres helping regain the lead for Sarah Lawrence after scoring on two straight possessions. Torres first stole the ball from Pratt's Ace Bibbs and took it to the other end for a fastbreak score to narrow the lead to one point and then made his way to the line on the next Gryphons' possession to take a 52-51 lead with 12:22 remaining on the clock. After trading baskets for multiple possessions over the next few minutes, another first year stepped up for the Gryphons, this time being Chris Dougherty, who received a pass from the aforementioned Torres to connect on a shot from deep and extend the Sarah Lawrence lead to six points with just over nine minutes remaining. The teams remained close for the remainder of the game, with Pratt briefly regaining the lead with five minutes remaining before a putback by Grey put the Gryphons back in the driver's seat only 20 seconds later. The trend of back-and-forth play continued and the teams eventually found themselves tied at 67 with two minutes and thirty-seven seconds remaining. A Cameron Hatcher dunk would give Pratt a 69-67 lead and start an 8-0 run that would allow the Cannoneers to pull away from Sarah Lawrence. Two last-minute layups from Burman would reduce the lead to six but would not be enough to reclaim the lead or force overtime.


Up Next
The Gryphons (1-7, Skyline 0-0) will travel to Columbia University on Sunday for an exhibition match with tip-off scheduled for 2:00 p.m. The game will be live-streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available on the men's basketball schedule at GoGryphons.com. Following Sunday's exhibition the Gryphons will travel to Newburgh, N.Y. to take on Mount Saint Mary's in Sarah Lawrence's Skyline opener.