BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Villa Maria College men's basketball team returned to the court on Friday after not playing a game since early February. They hosted Niagara County Community College for their fourth straight home game and after coming out a little rusty, the Vikings fell by a final score of 97-79.
The Thunder Wolves are undefeated on the year, holding a 3-0 record. Villa falls to 1-4 on the season, with still a lot of basketball to be played on the season.
Master Radford scored the first bucket of the game, but the offense was stagnant as they fell behind 10-2.
Juwan Beale knocked down a three to stop the run and
Tim Payne followed it up with a shot of his own to put cut the score to 11-8 with 14 minutes to play in the first-half.
Jaylin Rose checked into the game for his season debut and knocked down a couple of threes to keep the team in the game. In the final five minutes of the first frame, the Villa defense let up and the Thunder Wolves were able to take advantage, taking a 46-34 lead into halftime.
Beale led the way in scoring with eight points. Radford scored six points of his own, while grabbing six rebounds. Rose was effective off of the bench with his six points as well.
In the second half, the Vikings allowed 51 points by the opposition, and Villa couldn't string together stops. Offensively, the team was strong, shooting 7-for-13 from three and 16-for-39 from the field. They weren't getting the foul calls when they drove to the lane, only shooting ten free-throw attempts. Beale tried his best to will his team to a comeback, scoring 19 points in 20 minutes of action and also grabbing five rebounds.
In total, Beale finished with 27 points in 40 minutes and collected seven rebounds and four assists. Rose had the second highest total with 17 points in 19 minutes off of the bench, shooting and perfect 5-for-5 from three. Radford led the way in rebounds with 11 and scored six points of his own.
Villa will hits the road on Saturday, March 6, as they battled Bryant and Stratton Rochester in the second night of a back-to-back. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start time at Edison Tech High School.
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