Men’s Basketball Drops Battle At No. 9 Dean College, 65-57

FRANKLIN, Mass. ---- Jahleel Moise (Brockton) put together an impressive stat line on Thursday night, nearly recording a triple-double, but the Massasoit men's basketball team fell on the road to the 9th-ranked Dean Bulldogs, 65-57.

Moise filled up the box score, totaling 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 10 rebounds and nine blocks. The Brockton native added a pair of steals, went 3-for-3 from the line and made his only 3-point attempt in the loss.

Leland Jackson (Brockton) topped the Warriors with 17 points, all coming in the second half along with eight rebounds. William Baker (Brockton) chipped in with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists, as he and Moise played all 40 minutes for the Warriors.

"I'm proud of them," Massasoit head coach Jim Stapleton said. "Dean's bigger, stronger, deeper and more experienced than us. We talked before the game and we said we wanted to show discipline, be patient and be tough and we accomplished that.

"Tonight we had two strong performances from Pookie (William Baker) and Jahleel (Moise) who both played all 40 minutes and a solid second half from Leland (Jackson). To come to a nationally ranked team, on the road in our second game, missing a key guy, we showed a lot of character by being able to hang around."

Trailing 35-28 at the break, Massasoit would pull within three points at the 13:16 mark when Jackson buried a trey from the wing, to make it 41-38 Dean. But Dean answered right back with a 3-pointer of its own to inflate the lead back to six.

Massasoit stayed with striking distance, and had the Dean lead under double figures with just over three minutes to go. However, the Bulldogs converted consecutive three-point-plays to pull the game out of reach for the visiting Warriors.

The Warriors struggled from the field, making only 34.4 percent (22-of-64) of their attempts, but did connect on 4-of-10 shots from downtown.

NOT MUCH PAST MOISE: Jahleel Moise swatted nine more blocks for the Warriors on Thursday. In two games this season, the sophomore has totaled 22 stuffs after swatting 13 in the season opener at Springfield Tech.

JACKSON GETS IT GOING: After being held scoreless in the first half, Leland Jackson netted a team-high 17 points, all coming after intermission.

COACHING CONNECTION: Dean College head coach Rico Cabral is a former student-athlete and men's basketball coach at Massasoit.  In addition, he is a member of the Massasoit Athletics Hall of Fame.

NEXT UP: Massasoit treks to UCAP for a 1 p.m. contest on Saturday.