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Sarah Lawrence College Athletics

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Eamon Kelly
Stockton Photo
69
Whittier Whitt 1-3,0-0 SCIAC
72
Winner Sarah Lawrence SLC 1-4,0-0 Skyline
Whittier Whitt
1-3,0-0 SCIAC
69
Final
72
Sarah Lawrence SLC
1-4,0-0 Skyline
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Whittier Whitt 32 37 69
Sarah Lawrence SLC 36 36 72

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Gryphons Head into Break with Narrow Victory over Poets

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. -  The Sarah Lawrence men's basketball team hosted the Whittier College Poets from Los Angeles, California on Tuesday, marking their final game before Thanksgiving break. The Gryphons got a combined 37 point from senior Lucas Murray and sophomore Eamon Kelly as they defeated the Poets 72-69 at the Campbell Sports Center.

Top Performers
  • Murray scored a team-high 19 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the winning effort
  • Kelly added 18 points and four rebounds of his own
  • Derek Hickman was the third and final Gryphon in double digits, scoring 13 points and grabbing three offensive rebounds
  • Andrew Kim helped facilitate for the Gryphons, with a 7-1 AST/TO ratio and three rebounds

How it Happened

The visiting Poets jumped ahead 4-0 but after a couple trips to the free-throw line the Gryphons had brought the lead down to just one point. A layup by Murray would give them a lead briefly before three baskets in a row by the Poets swung the momentum in favor of the visitors. After an SLC timeout to stop that momentum, the Gryphons got a key three-pointer from Eamon Kelly to stop the scoring run by the visitors. The Poets would get a fast-break score but Chris Dougherty would step up and knock down a shot from deep to bring the lead down to just two points. After a pair of made free-throws by Whittier's Roy Kalu the Gryphons would respond once again, this time off the hands of first year Noah Elovitz-Fields, who would take a pass by Kim and bring the lead back down to just two points. Kelly would knock down a pair of free-throws to tie the contest at 15 with just over 10 minutes left, but an answer from deep would give the Poets a lead once again. A layup by Murray with 8:50 left would start a 15-7 run in favor of the Gryphons that would give them a three-point lead with 1:31 remaining in the first half of play. The Poets would rally and score twice in the final minute but a made three by Elovitz-Fields with 32 seconds remaining and a last-second layup by Murray to beat the horn would send the hosts into the intermission with a four-point advantage.

Whittier came out of the break hot, scoring from the field and getting to the line to eventually bring the lead down to two points once again. Murray would immediately respond with a layup and Kelly would do the same less than a minute later on an offensive rebound to bring the lead to six. Five straight points by the Poets would threaten the lead, but Hickman would answer with a three-pointer and Kelly would do the same, bringing the lead to seven points before another connection from deep two minutes later from sophomore Kyle Jefferson would give the Gryphons the first double-digit lead of the afternoon. The Poets would respond but another Kelly triple would silence the run. The teams would trade scores and neither was able to break away for a huge momentum shift, and with 3:41 remaining, the Gryphons held a 68-61 advantage, with Murray scoring the team's last six points. After a minute and a half of scoreless basketball, a Kelly free-throw grew the lead to eight but the Poets were not ready to head back to California just yet. A Jake Estep three-pointer would cap a six-point run and bring the score to 69-67 in favor of the Gryphons. After over 50 seconds of scoreless basketball, Jefferson would step up and hit one of the biggest shots of the day, extending the SLC lead to five points off another Kim assist. Two more Whittier free-throws brought the score down to three, but that would be as close as they would get as the Gryphons held on for the victory by a score of 72

Up Next

The Gryphons (1-4) will open conference play on Sunday when they travel to the Max Stern Athletic Center in New York, N.Y. for a 1:00 p.m. Skyline MBB matchup. Live coverage links are available below.

Live Video: https://www.macslive.com/watch-live 
Live Stats: https://yumacs.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary