Boston, Mass. – February 15, 2025 – The Springfield College men's basketball team fell in the final seconds at Emerson College, 63-61, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action at Brown & Plofker Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

Emerson improved to 11-12 overall and to 6-8 in NEWMAC play, while Springfield dipped to 10-13, 7-7. With just two conference games remaining, Springfield will be looking to secure its first playoff appearance under Coach McClendon.

Xoren Livingston (Wayland, Mass.) led Springfield with 20 points to go along with four rebounds, while off the bench Josh Hartley (Brooklyn, N.Y.) recorded 13 points and five boards. Curtiss Blische (Barkhamsted, Conn.) led the Pride with seven rebounds in the setback.

Emerson had three student-athletes record double digit point totals guided by a 13 point, 12 rebound double-double from Linus Helmhold. Trevor Arico added 13 points of his own, while Hank Gramlich registered ten points off the bench for the Lions.

Neither team eclipsed 40.0-percent from the floor, but the difference came from behind the arc and at the free throw line for Emerson. The host Lions buried five shots from deep compared to just three for Springfield, while Emerson went 18-for-21 at the charity stripe compared to just a 10-for-18 effort at the line by the Pride.

Over the first 12 minutes of the game, Emerson built a 12 point lead following a three point basket by Gramlich. John Paulino (New Bedford, Mass.) answered with a trey of his own to cut the 11-2 run for the hosts, but Springfield was only able to muster a layup from Livingston and a trio of free throws from Zander Robinson (East Hartford, Conn.) over the final five minutes of the half as Emerson held a 33-19 lead at the break.

Down 38-21, Springfield embarked on a 14-2 run over a stretch of seven minutes that saw the Pride shoot 6-for-12 from the floor and receive four points from both Blische and Cedric Rodriguez (Burlington, Mass.). A dunk by Jarron Flynn (Roslindale, Mass.) emphasized the run that ultimately ended on a layup from Hartley with 11:41 to play.

Emerson answered and built its lead back to double digits at 51-40 with 7:46 remaining when Springfield scored 11 of the next 14 points to pull within just three at 54-51 following a trey by Livingston off a feed from Paulino. Hartley led the charge for the Pride with six points in the spurt with two layups and two free throws.

Just minutes later facing a seven point deficit, Springfield used back-to-back layups from Livingston off turnovers from Emerson before a layup from Hartley ultimately knotted the score at 61 with 30 seconds remaining. Hartley missed the free throw off the and-one play and went on to block Emerson's go ahead attempt, but an offensive rebound by Emerson put Guillermo Gasset Ruiz at the line to seal the game.

Gasset Ruiz buried both attempts as Emerson took the game by a 63-61 final.

Springfield will host WPI for Senior Night on Wednesday at 7:00 pm in Blake Arena.

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