Welcome back all of you loyal Fighting Scots fans. I call you loyal, because obviously this season hasn't gone the way we were expecting or hoping. As poorly as it has gone, we still have a route, albeit a difficult one, into the conference tournament. I will talk about this more later.
 
We opened this past week with a Wednesday evening contest at the Bennett Center against Nichols College. Nichols hasn't played this year as well as they have in the last several years, so we thought we had a good chance on our home court. We played really hard all night and held a two-point lead with 14:35 remaining in the game, but we had our worst shooting night of the season, and wound up losing 73–63. We shot 35.2% from the field, and 18.5% from three-point range. We were led in scoring by Ryan Brooks and Isaac Jarvis who both tallied 15 points. Brandon Swann came off the bench to score 11, and was the only player to find his range from three, hitting 3–6 from behind the arc. We gave ourselves a chance to win again, but we just haven't been able to close a game this season.
 
The loss to Nichols put us in a very dire situation. We now must win our final three games, starting with a trip to Roger Williams University for their Senior Night game. We started the game off very well, especially on the defensive end of the court, and with 6:26 remaining in the first half, we held a 22–15 lead. That's when another one of those darn spurts took place. Over the next 3:23, we gave up a 12–1 run and found ourselves trailing 27–23. Unlike in similar situations this season, we responded well, and went into the locker room at halftime holding a 35–32 advantage.
 
In the second half, we shot terribly, and this is where you would expect me to tell you about the bleak ending to the game. With 5:20 remaining we are still in the game, trailing 69–63. I thought we showed a lot of grit to shoot as poorly as we did, and still give ourselves a chance to win. Over that final 5:20, we played with as much heart as we have played with all season long, and with four seconds remaining in the game, Ryan hit two free throws to give us a one-point lead. Their final desperation shot bounced off the rim, and we came away with a hard fought 77–76 victory. Alex Daniel came out of his shooting slump to lead us in scoring with 26 points on 6–13 shooting from three-point range. Ryan had another solid all-around game with 20 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Our big fella Isaac, came up big in this one as well getting a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. It only took us 23 games to finally figure out how to win a close one.
 
This week we finish our season with a Tuesday night road contest at Curry College, followed by our Senior Night against Suffolk University this Saturday. Curry has been playing much better of late, losing close games to the top two teams in the conference, Endicott and WNE, and they won their last game this past Saturday against Johnson and Wales. They have a very balanced scoring attack with five players averaging double figures, and three others averaging between 6-8 points. We will need to play great team defense to try and slow down their offensive attack in order to get the road victory on their Senior Night.
 
If we win on Tuesday, we could control our own destiny with our Senior Night home contest against Suffolk University. It will be a huge challenge, because Suffolk has one of the best defenses in all of New England, and they beat us at their place 79–51. It would obviously be a huge upset, but I think we are playing much better down the stretch of the season, and you never know what might happen on Senior Night.
 
Speaking of our seniors, we would love for you to be there Saturday to celebrate our three graduating seniors, Isaac Jarvis, Sean Quanico, and Bruce McGuire. Hopefully it will be a very exciting game with a lot on the line. I hope to see you all there, and thank you for all of your continued support.
 
God Bless,
   Coach Murphy
 
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11