Boston, Mass. – January 16, 2024 – The Springfield College men's basketball team fell to Emerson College by a 85-66 final on Tuesday evening in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tilt inside Brown and Plofker Gymnasium.

Springfield dropped to 5-11 overall and to 2-5 in NEWMAC play, while Emerson improved to 6-10, 2-4.

Springfield's leading scorer was first-year Yuki Ishibashi (Chiba, Japan), who posted a career-high 12 points on the night. Sophomore John Paulino (New Bedford, Mass.) and first-year Xoren Livingston (Wayland, Mass.) both chipped in with 11 points apiece for the Pride. All six scorers for Emerson tallied double-digit points paced by Lucas Brenner with 20 on a 7-for-13 shooting effort and Guillermo Gassett Ruiz with 17 on a 7-for-11 shooting performance.

Emerson scored 13 of the game's first 14 points and led by as many as 14 with 13:45 to play in the first half following back to back three point buckets by Gassett Ruiz and Jacob Armant. Springfield trailed 25-9 after a layup from Cadan Zurek, but pulled off a 14-4 run over the next 3:41 that featured points from five different student-athletes including four from both Curtiss Blische (Barkhamsed, Conn.) and Paulino as the score stood at 29-23 with 7:03 left in the first.

The hosts answered with a 10-4 run and built their lead back up to double-digits at 39-27 after a layup from Brendan McNamara and took an eventual 55-33 advantage into the halftime break. Emerson outscored Springfield by a 14-2 margin over the final 3:15 of the stanza as the Lions knocked down a trio of shots from behind the arc. Despite shooting at a 53.8-percent clip from the floor (14-for-26)) in the opening half, Springfield faced a 22-point deficit midway through the contest. Over the first 20 minutes of the game, the Pride saw nine different student-athletes score at least two points, headlined by a nine-point effort from Paulino.

Emerson scored the first ten of 14 points in the second stanza for a 65-37 advantage just 3:27 into the half for its largest lead of the game. The Lions maintained their 20+ point differential for the entirety of the second until Ishibashi knocked down a trey with under a minute to play for the Pride.

Springfield will travel to nationally-ranked No. 23 Clark University on Thursday, January 18 for a NEWMAC contest beginning at 7:00 in Worcester.

For the latest on Springfield College Athletics, follow the Pride on social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.