Newark, N.J. – November 10, 2023 – The Springfield College men's basketball team led from start to finish and picked up its first win of the 2023-24 campaign over Rutgers-Newark University as the Pride topped the Scarlet Raiders 71-64 in the opening game of the John K. Adams Tip-Off Classic in the Golden Dome tonight.

Springfield, now 1-1 on the young season, shot at a 40.8-percent clip from the floor and was paced by junior Gary Bess (Miami, Fla.), who registered 13 points to go along with seven boards, an assist and a block, while classmate Curtiss Blische (Barkhamsted, Conn.) pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds and tallied six points. Off the bench, both first-year Garyn Bess (Miami, Fla.) and senior Nick Bray (Hartford, Conn.) notched nine points apiece.

Springfield tallied 24 points in the paint, turned 12 Rutgers-Newark turnovers into 14 points and saw 29 of its 71 points come off the bench.

The Pride raced out to a 9-3 edge over the first 4:58 of the contest following a step back jumper by Josiah Evely (Toronto, Ontario). Rutgers-Newark answered and eventually knotted the score up at 14-14 midway through the half. On the very next possession, a trey by Garyn Bess gave the Pride a 17-14 lead, a lead Springfield would never relinquish.

Bess' bucket kickstarted a 12-0 run that ballooned Springfield's lead to 26-14, its largest of the matchup, and the Pride outscored the Scarlet Raiders 25-15 over the final 9:43 of the half as Springfield took a ten point advantage into the break. The Bess brothers and Bray accounted for 17 of the final 25 points for Springfield in the first half.  

Both teams traded buckets early in the second stanza before the hosts cut their deficit to just four points at 45-41 following a layup by Pascal Doddard with 12:48 to play in the game. Five minutes later, Springfield graduate student Joe Hoch (South Ozone Park, N.Y.) scored five straight points to push the Pride's lead back to 11 at 56-45. From that point on, Rutgers-Newark got no closer than five and Springfield sank five of six shots from the charity stripe to win tonight by a 71-64 final.

Springfield will play either Wesleyan University or Hiram College in the championship game of the John K. Adams Tip-Off Classic on the campus of Rutgers-Newark University at 3:00 pm tomorrow afternoon.

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