By Coach Lenny Dale, Emerson Athletic Director and Physical Education Teacher
Emerson ‘Gobbles’ Up St. Paul Before Thanksgiving Break
The Eagles boys basketball teams went into the holiday break on a winning note, each handling the visitors from St. Paul.
The JV jumped out to a 12-2 lead after the first quarter, and then cruised to a 37-22 victory, with Nikash Bhagat leading all scorers with 12 points, and Lucas Nor close behind with 10.
The varsity got off to a quick start, too, jumping out to a 5-0 lead early, but then saw St. Paul go on an 8-0 run, before going on a 17-5 run of their own to regain the lead and go into the half up 22-13. St Paul had a strong third quarter to get back within a point, but in the fourth Gabe Kellman, Nikhil Gunaratnam and Jaden Thomas combined to ‘squash’ St. Paul’s hopes: Gabe’s final 5 of his game high 18 points, plus his defense, and his court sense helping Nikhil get his final 6 of 10 points off open looks, and feeding Jaden to get his final 4 of 9 points from nice passes inside. St Paul actually got scoring from 7 players, compared to Emerson’s 5, but Gabe, Nikhil and Jaden were the top three in the game, providing inside, outside and full-court games that resulted in a 43-33 final score in the Eagles’ favor.