Box Score JERSEY CITY, NJ – In a game that almost felt like déjà vu, the Saint Peter's men's basketball team fell 61-57 to Lafayette in the 2016-17 season opener at home in the Yanitelli Center. Exactly like last seasons meeting, the Leopards trailed by nine with fewer than three minutes remaining and rallied off 13 points to secure the victory. Senior forward Quadir Welton (Philadelphia, PA/Math, Civics and Science Charter) finished with a team-high 20 points.
"It's a really tough one to swallow, kind of gave the game away two years in a row against these guys, up nine with about three minutes to go" noted head coach John Dunne. "On the positive, I thought our execution from the seven in a half minute mark down to the three minute mark when, Quadir got back in the game, was really really good and we shared it and took control of the game. In a last ditch effort by them, they just started running around half hazardly, trapping us, and we were just undisciplined and we threw the ball all over the place and turned it over. We have to clearly be a more disciplined team right there, especially when you have upperclassmen on the court and just have to take the win in those moments."
The first half was tight throughout with the Peacocks posting the largest leads in the half at six points on two occasions. Nick Griffin (Rockville, MD/Col. Zadok Magruder (George Washington)) was an early spark off the bench, hitting a three to give the Peacocks its first lead at 12-11, since the opening score when the Peacocks lead 3-0. After a Welton three-point play and two more free throws made by Welton, the Peacocks lead extended to six points at 17-11. Lafayette managed to cut into the Saint Peter's lead, cutting the score to a manageable two-point deficit at 19-17. Each team would go scoreless for the next two full minutes until Lafayette hit a free-throw and added a made jumper by Eric Stafford to reclaim the lead since the Griffin jumper. The lead would change hands three more times including s tie at 23-23 before the Peacocks took a 26-25 lead into the break.
In the second half, the Peacocks and Leopards picked back up where they left off, exchanging leads early on in the half. With a tied contest at 34-34, the Peacocks got their break and jumped on the Leopards, putting together a 20-9 run with huge threes from Griffin and Nnamdi Enechionyia (Springfield, VA/St. James School (Samford)), and a monster slam dunk by Welton, extending the lead to 54-43 with 4:42 remaining in regulation. With one last media break, and a nine-point cushion, the Peacocks looked poised to close out the evening on the positive side. The Leopards cut the deficit several more times before the Peacocks got the lead back up to nine with exactly 2:47 left at 57-48. That would end up being the last basket by Saint Peter's as Lafayette forced the Peacocks into five turnovers in the final 2:20 and rallied off the games final 13 points to pull off the come-back victory against the Peacocks for the second straight season.
"We need to learn from it, it's a really really hard one to swallow," added Dunne. "Great home crowd, very appreciative of the fans being here. We have an off day tomorrow and on Wednesday. We have to learn from it then forget about it and move on to Lipscomb."
Enechionyia scored 12 points in his Saint Peter's debut; while Griffin added eight points in his first Peacock action. Senior guard Trevis Wyche (Neptune, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep) led the team with four assists and Cavon Baker (Queens, NY/New Hope Academy [Md.] (Houston), snatched up a team-high eight rebounds in his first time suiting up for the Peacocks.
The men's basketball team is back on the hardwood this weekend when they travel to the Bronx, New York to play in the Fordham Invitational. The Peacocks will meet Lipscomb on Friday night at 8:30pm, face host school Fordham on Saturday at 3:00pm, and close out the three-day, three-game tournament on Sunday against Fairleigh Dickinson at 1:00pm. The team returns home to then host Boston University on Monday, November 28 at 7:00pm.
