NEWTON, Mass. – December 11, 2021 - The Dean College men's basketball team was defeated by Lasell, 91-75, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest Saturday afternoon. 

Dean falls to 5-4 overall and 0-2 in conference action. The Bulldogs will resume play on Jan. 6 at Elms. The Lasers improve to 5-3 overall and 2-0 in the GNAC. Lasell will host UMaine-Farmington on Monday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m.

Junior Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.) and sophomore Shim Daniels (New Haven, Conn.) led the Bulldogs with 18 points apiece off the bench. Senior Nick Sampeck (Blanco, Texas) scored 13 and junior Hunter Meyer (Taylor Mill, Ky.) scored 10.

Graduate student Jonathan Friberg (North Attleboro, Mass.) scored 22 points on 9-11 shooting and added 10 rebounds for the Lasers. Senior Kevin Nunez (Dorchester, Mass.) scored 22 points and brought down eight rebounds. Senior EJ Day (Norwalk, Conn.) scored 21 points and added six assists to his stat line. Kevin Vanderhorst (Lawrence, Mass.) also posted a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The first 10 minutes of the contest was close throughout before Lasell used a 10-0 run to take a 32-23 lead with 4:44 left to go. The Bulldogs got the game down to six on a three-pointer by Daniels in the waning seconds, but Kelvin Kariuki (Taunton, Mass.) put the home team back on top with a buzzer-beater from 30 feet for a 46-37 lead at the break. 

The second half started much like the first, as both teams traded baskets, but Lasell edged out a little bit to push their lead into double figures at 13 with four minutes gone. Dean battled back to get it under 10, but Lasell found an answer anytime the Bulldogs got it under that threshold. The Bulldogs got the game down to seven with 6:19 to play but that was as close as they would get. Lasell went on a 26-7 run the rest of the way to take the victory 91-75.

Lasell posted a 46-34 margin in points in the paint and a 41-28 advantage in rebounds.