The Brockport Golden Eagles men’s basketball team took a tough loss in tonight’s home game against RIT, falling 83-78.
Brockport got on the board first, with a bucket from Alex Tavarez to open the scoring. The Golden Eagles kept a steady offensive flow, staying in the lead throughout the first half, even under pressure from RIT. The visiting Tigers would find their own offensive rhythm, keeping the score close. Right before halftime, Brockport led 31-33. With a second left on the clock, RIT’s Brock Bowen hit a three-pointer, giving them a 34-33 lead headed into the break.
“Our mindset is trying to get back on track,” Alex Tavarez said. “We had a tough start but we’re working towards it.”
In the first five minutes of the second half, the Tigers went 4-7 from deep, giving RIT a seven-point lead, the largest lead by either team the entire game. The Golden Eagles would be chasing the game from there, until Jakhi Lucas hit a jumper to make the score 65-66, giving Brockport the lead.
The game remained close, the largest lead by any team in the last five minutes only being three points. After a Brockport foul, RIT’s Matt Caggiano hit both free throws to put the Tigers up 83-78 with seven seconds left, guaranteeing the win.
“We need to work on the defense on the floor,” Brockport assistant coach Seth Johnston said. “We need to improve there first before we can move forward in any other area of the game.”
Jakhi Lucas led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 15 points. Nathaniel Gordon was right behind with 12 points and Tony Arnold and Zachary Rice had 10 points. Colby Jordan added eight points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Following this game, the Golden Eagles sit at a 1-6 overall record. Brockport is focused on their team chemistry on the court as this season progresses.
“As a team we have good chemistry off the court,” Brockport sophomore Christian Amica said. “It allows us to make to make mistakes, it’s just a matter of improving our chemistry on the court.”
The Golden Eagles will head to Ohio this Saturday to play University of Akron in an exhibition game at 3 p.m.
