Becker Comes From Behind To Earn First NCAA Tournament Victory
WILLIMANSTOWN, Mass.- In their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament the Becker College men's basketball team rose to the occasion by coming from behind to defeat Scranton University 80-73.
Trailing 37-27 with 3:17 remaining in the first half Becker seemed to finally find their stroke. Tyler Robinson (Irvington, N.J.) came off the bench and hit a three pointer, cutting the Royals lead to 37-30. On the very next play Robinson came up with a defensive rebound and fed Trae Jacobs (Lexington Park, MD.) for a layup, putting the Hawks within five. A late free throw by Scranton gave the Royals a 40-34 advantage at the Half.
Junior Terrance Favors (Boston, Mass.) led the Hawks with 12 first half points.
Early in the second half it looked like Becker would fall victim to the relentless three point shooting of Scranton University. The Hawks trailed by as much as 14 in the second half before rallying back. After a Trae Jacobs jumper put the Hawks within four at 69-65, Markus Wright (New Haven, Conn.) immediately stole the ball, took it the length of the floor for a crowd pleasing dunk. With Becker down 72-71 with just under three minutes remaining Rajai Leggett (New Haven, Conn.) hit both of his free throws, giving the Hawks their first lead of the half. Becker closed out the game on 9-1 run to earn the school's first NCAA victory.
Becker had four players finish in double figures. Rajai Leggett had a monster second half, scoring 14 of his game high 20 points. Leggett also earned the double-double pulling down game high 11 rebounds.
Terrance Favors was held in check in the second half, but still finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Senior center Trae Jacobs chipped in with 15 points and Moody Doherty (Roselle, N.J.) added 12 points in the victory.
With the win Becker improved their record to 24-4. The Hawks will play the winner of the Williams College and Husson University game at 7pm tomorrow night.
