The Johnson & Wales University men’s basketball team posted a commanding 89-40 victory against Daniel Webster in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest at the Harborside RAC on Saturday afternoon.
Senior Brian Bannister (Boston, Mass.) finished with a game-high 22 points, four assists and seven steals in the win for Johnson & Wales while senior Brian Fernandes (Fall River, Mass.) and freshman Justin Adams (Providence, R.I.) each tallied 14 points in the victory. Leading the way for Daniel Webster was senior Chris Boone (Durham, Maine) with 10 points and eight assists while sophomore Neal Foley (Tewksbury, Mass.) added six points and 13 rebounds for the Eagles.
Johnson & Wales controlled the early part of first half, jumping out to an early 16-9 advantage at the 12:53 mark. The Wildcats would continue to build on their lead and went ahead 21-12 after a layup by junior Japhet Kerr (Mt. Kisco, N.Y.) with 6:41 left in the half. Daniel Webster responded, however and cut the lead to just one when a jumper by sophomore Greg Floyd (Bristol, Conn.) made the score 23-22 with 2:21 left in the half. That would be as close as DWC would get as Johnson & Wales closed out the half on a 9-3 run to take the 32-25 lead into halftime.
The second half belonged to Johnson & Wales as the Wildcats as the team used an 18-0 run to open the half to take a commanding 50-25 advantage with 14:00 left in the contest. The Wildcats then continued to build on their lead throughout the second half en route to the 89-40 victory. The Wildcats defense held Daniel Webster to just 28.6% shooting for the game and forced 41 turnovers.
With the win Johnson & Wales improves to 9-11 on the season, 7-6 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference while Daniel Webster falls to 0-19, 0-13 in league. The Wildcats will return to action on Tuesday, February 7th when they host Emmanuel in a GNAC contest at 7:30 p.m.
www.JWU.edu/prov/athletics
For more information, contact Dan Booth (401) 598-1632 or (401) 338-4093