Springfield, Mass. (November 14) -- In the season opener, the Assumption College men's basketball team held off American International for a 63-55 victory in Northeast-10 Conference play on Wednesday evening at Butova Gym.

Assumption jumped out to a 13-0 lead over the first 4:40 of the game thanks to a trio of three-pointers, a dunk from sophomore Terrance Bobb-Jones (Wilmington, Del./Delcastle Voc-Tech) and a pair of free throws. After the Yellow Jackets cut the lead down to 13-5, the Hounds used another quick 8-0 run to seemingly seize control at 21-5 with 9:11 left in the period.

Over the remainder of the half, the Hounds were held to just six points and two field goals as Jason Perrier and the Yellow Jackets cut the lead down to 25-18 at the halftime. The Yellow Jackets shot just 21.7 percent from the field in the first half as the two teams combined for 18 turnovers in a sloppy half of play. Senior captain Tim Beinert (Bellerose Village, N.Y./Holy Cross) led the Hounds with 10 points in the half behind a pair of three-pointers in the opening minutes.

AIC cut the lead down to three early in the half before a 15-6 run put the Hounds in front 40-28 with 12:50 left. The Yellow Jackets continued to keep up the offensive pressure and cut the lead back down to four at 42-38 with 10:51 on the clock. After an Assumption timeout, a layup from Ronson Quick (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) and a corner three from Kevin Donahue (Pawcatuck, Conn./Stonington) gave the visitors a nine-point edge again.

With 4:52 remaining, the Yellow Jackets cut the lead back to 54-50 as Assumption's Ryan Rozsnaki (Montreal, Quebec/Landstown) fouled out with his fifth foul. A pair of Bobb-Jones free throws with 3:59 left put an end to the AIC run though and made it a 56-50 margin with 3:59 remaining. Rozsnaki finished the game with a 10-rebound performance to go along with six assists.

The Hounds led by at least six and by as many as 11 down the stretch as they held off the Yellow Jackets for the victory.

Beinert led the team with 19 points, along with 15 points from Quick and 13 points from Bobb-Jones.

With the win, Assumption opens at 1-0 overall and in Northeast-10 play, while the Yellow Jackets fall to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the league.

Assumption is back in action on Saturday, November 17th as the Hounds take on Caldwell College in a 6 p.m. start at the Daniel Sullivan Memorial Tournament at Dominican College.

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