FRANKLIN, Mass. – January 28, 2022 – The Dean College men's basketball team dropped a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest to Lasell, 78-64, Friday evening.

Dean drops to 5-11 overall and 0-9 in conference action. The Bulldogs travel to play ninth-ranked University of Saint Joseph on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Lasell improves to 11-6 overall and 8-3 in the GNAC standings. The Lasers play at Albertus Magnus on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Sophomore Shim Daniels (New Haven, Conn.) led Dean with 21 points on 8-15 shooting. Junior Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.) added 15 points and seven rebounds. Senior Nick Sampeck (Blanco, Texas) rounded out the top Dean scorers with 11 points.

Senior EJ Day (Norwalk, Conn.) and graduate student Kevin Vanderhorst (Lawrence, Mass.) combined for 60 points to lead the Lasers to the victory. Day led all scorers with 35 points. He went 10-23 from the floor, made all 12 of his free throw attempts and added five steals. Vanderhorst posted a double-double of 25 points and 15 rebounds. He made 11-of-17 field goals.

Lasell raced out to a 12-2 lead, including five points by Day, in the opening four minutes. The Bulldogs pulled within a bucket at the 8:54 mark after a Blair layup. The Lasers' lead went back to 11, 37-26, with 1:33 left in the half after a fast break lay-in by Day. The Bulldogs finished the half with a 6-0 spurt, including four points by Daniels, to make the score 37-32 in favor of Lasell at the break. Day had 18 points in the half.

The first six minutes of the second half was played within three possessions until a Vanderhorst layup gave Lasell a 49-39 lead. Midway through the frame, Dean cut the deficit to five, 55-50, when Blair scored on a fast break layup. A Day three-pointer with 6:06 left to play put the Lasers on top by 10 and they did not relinquish a double-digit advantage for the remainder of the contest.