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Sarah Lawrence College Athletics

The Official Athletics Website of Sarah Lawrence College
Aiden Morel MBB 2023-24
Walker Liggitt
56
Old Westbury OW 0-20,0-11 Skyline
69
Winner Sarah Lawrence SLC 9-11,6-5 Skyline
Old Westbury OW
0-20,0-11 Skyline
56
Final
69
Sarah Lawrence SLC
9-11,6-5 Skyline
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Old Westbury OW 23 33 56
Sarah Lawrence SLC 33 36 69

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Zach Perbeck

Morel's Career-Best Scoring Effort Propels Gryphons over Panthers

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. - The Sarah Lawrence men's basketball team continued their hot start to 2024 with their fifth conference win in the month of January, defeating the Panthers of Old Westbury by a score of 69-56.

Top Performers
  • First-Year Aiden Morel scored a career-high 17 points off the bench, including connecting on five of seven shots from deep
  • Eamon Kelly scored 16 points while pulling down nine rebounds and distributing six assists
  • Point guard Andrew Kim scored 13 points and distributed nine assists to propel the SLC offense

How it Happened

The Gryphons and Panthers played each other close for the first five minutes of the contest, but back-to-back buckets by Kim gave the Gryphons an early 9-4 advantage. Kelly would connect from deep and John Kairouz would connect off a pass by Kim and the Gryphons found themselves up by eight at the halfway point of the first period. It would then be Morel to connect from deep after a Kyle Jefferson pass to give SLC a double-digit lead. Morel would strike again less than a minute later, this time off an assist from fellow first-year Kim as he re-established a double-digit lead for the Gryphons. The Panthers would reduce the lead to six points with six minutes remaining but Morel would play spoiler, connecting on his third triple of the game to bring the lead back up to nine. The visitors would not go down quietly, scoring the next five points to make it a four-point game but this time Kelly would take his turn breaking their momentum, as the sophomore took a Chris Dougherty pass and knocked down one of his four three-pointers of the night. Kim and Morel would both score in the following two SLC possessions before Kelly would return the favor and find Dougherty for a layup to give the Gryphons a 13-point lead with just over a minute-and-a-half remaining. Old Westbury's Amadi Lee-Kane would connect from long range with 1:04 remaining and the final minute of the first half would remain scoreless, with SLC taking a 33-23 lead into the intermission.

After shooting 50% from deep on 12 attempts in the first half, the Gryphons started the second half off in a similar way, with Kim being the first to strike from long range less than 20 seconds into the period. After a relatively slow start to the half for both teams, it would be Braden Burman to join the party next, taking a pass from Kim and giving SLC a 39-27 lead with just under 17 minutes remaining. The Panthers would slowly gain ground, closing the lead to seven points before another timely triple by Morel would bring the SLC lead back to double-digits. Three technical free-throws by Kelly 20 seconds later brought the SLC lead to 13 and Andrew Kim would strike from deep yet again to add to the SLC run. A triple in response by the Panthers would be found mute after Lucas Murray layups on three consecutive possessions built the home lead up to 17 points. Kelly, Murray, Kairouz and Morel would all score in the final minutes of the contest and two late-game free throws by Noah Elovitz-Fields helped secure a double-digit SLC victory.

Up Next

The Gryphons (9-11, Skyline 6-5) will return to action this Saturday, February 4th, as they travel to Newburgh for a matchup with the Knights of Mount Saint Mary. The Gryphons defeated the Knights earlier this season in Bronxville by a score of 77-73.
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