Emerson Men’s Basketball Defeats Dean College, 84–70

Geoffrey Gray ’19 dished out a game-high 23 points with eight assists and two steals as the Emerson men’s basketball team held off a late comeback from Dean College to grab the 84–70 win to open its home schedule.

With the win, Emerson moves to 3–2 while Dean drops to 4–4.

After Gray (Newton, Massachusetts) drained a three-point bucket to even the score at 3-all a minute into the game, the Emerson offense powered out 16 more points to gain the 19–3 lead. At 14:53, Dayvon Russell tallied Dean’s first bucket in six minutes to put the score at 19–5, but Emerson’s offense just kept on rolling.

With 12 minutes left in the half, Kent Ellertson’s (’20, Sudbury, Massachusetts) three pointer from downtown pushed the Lions’ lead to 21 at 26–5. Gray’s jump shot gave Emerson its biggest lead of 33, and closed out the half with a 49–19 lead after Michael Sheng ’18 (Altadena, California) tallied a pair from the charity line.

Dean put up four points to begin the second half on back-to-back layups from Naquwan Solomon and Aziz Gilliam as Emerson’s once-dominating 30-point lead began to diminish. Solomon drained two layups to help put the Bulldogs within 10 of the Lions. However, Emerson was determined to hold on.

Gray dished out a three with two minutes on the clock to extend the Lions’ lead to 17 at 82–65 to hold off the surging Bulldogs. Justin White sent up a three to put a final three points on the board for Dean with 20 ticks left, but Emerson held on to take the 84–70 win.

John Geary ’19 (Duxbury, Massachusetts) and Sheng added an additional 14 points apiece. Mac Sashin ’19 (Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts) led the Lions with nine rebounds and contributed 12 points.

For Dean, Solomon scored a game-high 23 points and led with 11 rebounds, three assists, two steals, two blocks, and seven rebounds. White contributed 12 points off the bench with four rebounds and one block.

Emerson hits the road on Saturday, December 3, as the team heads to Amherst for a 3:00 pm tipoff.