Lions Sneak Past Vikings, 89-86

SALEM, Mass. – Tonight Salem State men's basketball welcomed the Emerson College Lions to Twohig Gymnasium for their first of three home games on the week. After a high-scoring game, the Lions were able to stop the Vikings from sending the game to overtime and steal the 89-86 victory over the home team.

The Vikings saw even distribution tonight with six players scoring in double figures in the effort. Josiah Green (Springfield, Mass.) and Jaden Castillo (Lawrence, Mass.) led the charge with 16 a piece followed by Chris Macdonald (Wakefield, Mass.) and Juvens Louis (Everett, Mass.) who notched 15 and 13 points, respectively.

For the visitors, Jarred Houston (Norwood, Mass.) paced his squad with 33 points, 14 rebounds and four assists, followed by James Beckwith (Palo Alto, Calif.) who added 18 points and seven assists in the victory.

After back-to-back Byrne layups to open the game, the Vikings saw the 4-0 lead, which would be the largest by either team for the opening 12 minutes of play. With 8:56 left to play in the half the Lions saw their largest advantage of the game thus far after an 8-0 run put them up by a tally of five (28-23). The Lions were able to keep the Vikings at bay until the 3-minute mark when a Louis three tied the game at 30 all. The Lions were able to reclaim the lead shortly before Green pulled out some heroics to hit a last second three to bring the home team within four entering the half (44-40).

MacDonald kept his team within striking distance, providing an answer for every bucket the Lions scored to keep his team only down four (52-48) to start the second half of action. Aggressive play by the Vikings offense forced the referees' hands which allowed them to be in the bonus with over 11 minutes to play in the game. Louis used this opportunity to bring his team back within six after a perfect trip to the charity stripe brought the game to 66-60. The home team was able to use this as momentum and get within four points one minute later as Sammy Batista (Peabody, Mass.) spun off his defender to get his team on their feet, secure the bucket, and force the Lions to call a timeout.

Shortly after, the Vikings brought the game within one after a Castillo steal led to an easy two on the other end, but a Beckwith three on the other end put the Lions back up four (73-69). With just under five minutes to play Louis hit his second three of the game to bring Salem within one (78-77) and force the Lions to call a timeout to regroup. The timeout worked in favor of the home team, as Louis was able to stay hot and hit another one from behind the arc to tie the game at 82 and make the visitors call their second timeout in just as many minutes. This time Emerson saw the momentum out of the timeout as they went down low to their big man, Houston, who was able to go on a run of his own, giving his team the five- point cushion with 1:39 to play. When it looked like the Lions may put the game away at the free throw line, Green hit a three with 50 seconds to go to bring the Vikings within three points (89-86). With under thirty seconds to play, the Vikings got a defensive stop to give them the chance to tie it in the final seconds but fell short as the buzzer sounded with the Lions edging out the Vikings, 89-86.