Norfolk Reporter

Dean Opens 2023 with 89-81 Win over Norwich

 The Dean College men's basketball team began 2023 with an 89-81 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory over Norwich on Tuesday afternoon in Pieri Gymnasium.

Dean (8-3, 3-1 GNAC) will play its second of three games this week on Thursday with a 5:30 p.m. tip at Emmanuel. Norwich (7-4, 1-2 GNAC) travels to Elms on Thursday for a 6 p.m. tip.

Junior AJ Weston (Kansas City, Mo.) led the Bulldogs with 18 points, including several clutch free throws down the stretch. Senior Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.) went 7-of-8 for 16 points and four steals. Junior Jayden Madise (Palmdale, Calif.) contributed 13 points, while juniors Malik Spearman (St. Paul, Minn.) and Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas) rounded out five Bulldogs in double figures with 10 points apiece. Greenleaf added a team best eight rebounds to go with three steals.

Norwich's Donovan Lewis Jr. (Savannah Ga.) led all players with 21 points. Sophomore Owen Liss (West Suffield, Conn.) posted a double-double of 18 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Junior guard Jalen Olivero (Holyoke, Mass.) registered eight points, nine assists and six rebounds.

Dean took an 11-2 lead in the opening minutes and never looked back. A Nick Grant (Houston, Texas) three-pointer pushed the advantage to 21-6, 8:38 into the half. The Bulldogs held a comfortable lead throughout the opening 20 minutes and took a 44-31 into the break. Dean scored 30 of its 44 points in the paint, while nearly have of Norwich's shot attempts came from beyond the arc. The Cadets shot 34.4% from the floor and Dean shot 58.1%.

The Bulldogs continued to control the action in the second half until Norwich used an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 73-67 with 3:46 left to play. Dean responded with buckets from Spearman and Madise to regain a 10-point margin, but the Cadets kept fighting to pull within six after a trey by Tom Dooling (Boston, Mass.) with 23 seconds left. Weston made his free throws in the waning moments to preserve the 89-81 victory for the Bulldogs. 

Original source can be found here