BOSTON, Mass. – Five players scored in double figures, including freshman Jherson Colon (Boston, Mass.) who had 21 points and nine rebounds in his first collegiate game, as the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's basketball team opened the 2013-14 season with an 88-71 win over Emmanuel at the Emerson College Tip-Off Tournament.
The win was the first for rookie head coach Arlen Galloway, who became the first Leopard head men's basketball coach to post a victory in their inaugural game on the bench.
Over the first four minutes of the game there was one tie and six lead changes, with the last coming on a basket from sophomore Cam Sennick (Wilton, Maine) with 16:02 left. That basket began a 9-0 run for the Black & Gold. Sennick would have four points and senior Derek Mayo (Casco, Maine) would add three during the run.
Emmanuel cut the lead down to four (16-12) with 13:54 left on a junior Philwakin Tate (Bloomfield, Conn.) layup, however back-to-back threes from Colon gave Wentworth its first double-digit lead of the half. The Saints cut the lead back to four on a pair of occasions, and, after a Tate basket made it a 27-22 game with 7:52 left, Wentworth went on a 12-0 run, capped off by a sophomore Ronnie Turner (Lewiston, Maine) shot from the arc, to take a 17-point lead with 5:00 left.
The Saints worked the lead down to eight on a pair of free throws from freshman Kyle Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) with 1:08 left and would trail by five (48-43) at the break. Wentworth shot 68.2 percent from the floor over the first 20 minutes, which included going 5-for-9 from behind the arc.
After Emmanuel cut the lead to four during the opening minute of the second half, the Leopards used an 18-5 run to take a 68-51 lead with 11:23 left on a junior Nico Donato (Glatonbury, Conn.) layup. The Saints whittled the lead down to nine (74-65) with 4:41 left, however a 12-0 Leopard run over the next three minutes broke the game open.
Colon shot 8-for-14 from the floor and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Black & Gold. Donato had a career-high 19 points – which included going 4-for-4 from the floor and 9-for-11 from the line, freshman Brian O'Neill (Green Pond, N.J.) scored 11, Sennick added 10, and Turner had 10 and seven assists. As a team Wentworth shot 58.7 percent from the floor and held the Saints to 35.9 percent.
Smith led Emmanuel with 14 points, including going 8-for-8 from the charity stripe, while Tate added 13 and eight rebounds.
Wentworth (1-0) will face the winner of the Framingham State/Emerson game at 7:30 p.m., while Emmanuel (0-1) will face that game's loser at 5:30 p.m.
