PAXTON, Mass. – Sean Duffy led the fight for the Emerson Men's Basketball Team Thursday night as the Lions fell 80-65 to Anna Maria. With the loss Emerson moves to 9-9 on the year and 7-4 in conference play as Anna Maria improves to 10-7 overall and 8-2 in the GNAC.

The first half saw AMC hit the ground running on the Lions with Joey Barillo leading the way with 10 points in the half, hitting 50% from the floor. Turnovers plagued the Lions in the half as the AMCATS put up 16 points off of the 10 forced turnovers to inch away with the lead.

While the AMCATS won the turnover game it was a battle royale in the paint between both teams as they both put up 18 points in the paint while going neck-and-neck in second chance points and bench points. Rolling into the break the AMCATS took a 39-26 lead.

The second half saw the Lions bench step up huge, dropping in 35 of EC's 39 points in the half with Sean Duffy taking the reigns for 15 points to lead the floor. Big man Brad Peterson of the AMCATS jumped into the fray as well with 13 points of his own.

Mike Carbone pulled his weight for Emerson as well, putting in seven points but the AMCATS were nasty in the paint in the second half with 20 points of their 41. In the end the early AMCAT lead was too much to recover from as EC fell 80-65.

The Lions return to their home court this Monday as they set to host JWU at 7 p.m. in Boston at Emerson's Brown-Plofker Gym.