FRANKLIN, Mass. – November 17, 2021 – The Dean College men's basketball team was edged by Mitchell College, 94-90, Wednesday evening inside Pieri Gymnasium.
Dean goes to 3-1. The Bulldogs hit the road on Saturday for a noon tip at Fitchburg State. Mitchell evens its record to 2-2. The Mariners will play a pair of games this weekend at the Herb Kenny Tournament hosted by Wesleyan.
Senior
Winston Bryan (Greensboro, N.C.) led the Bulldogs with 25 points on 10-19 shooting. Senior
Nick Sampeck (Blanco, Texas) scored 19 points, while junior
Hunter Meyer (Taylor Mill, Ky.) went 7-8 from the floor for 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Junior
Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.) posted his fourth straight double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds.
For the Mariners, junior Jalen Benson (New London, Conn.) led a balanced scoring attack with 20 points. Junior guard Mikey Buscetto (Waterford, Conn.) finished with 19 points and 13 assists. Junior Alfonzo Stokes (Bloomfield, Conn.) added 19 points on 7-10 shooting. Senior Hunter Baillargeon (Norwich, Conn.) chipped in with 12 points off the bench.
The up-and-down action led to a 50-47 advantage for Mitchell at the half. The Mariners shot 55.3% from the floor and benefited from 11 Dean turnovers which resulted in 15 points. The Bulldogs stayed close at the break thanks to 66.7% shooting and 32 points in the paint. Stokes had 16 of his 19 points for Mitchell in the first 20 minutes. Sampeck led Dean with 10 points in the half.
The second half was more of the same as the teams traded runs and leads throughout. Five minutes into the second, a Sampeck jumper put the Bulldogs on top 63-59. Mitchell responded with an 8-0 run to go in front 67-63. With less than five minutes to play, Dean trailed 83-79 before Mitchell used an 8-2 spurt, behind a couple of buckets from Buscetto, to take a commanding 91-81 lead. The Bulldogs tried to chip away, cutting the deficit to four in the waning seconds, but ran out of time.
Both teams shot an identical 38-71 from the floor (53.5%) for the game. Dean had a 66-46 advantage in points in the paint, but Mitchell made 12 threes to Dean's three. The game featured 12 lead changes and 10 ties.
