By Beacon Sports Staff

The 2017-2018 basketball season started off on a positive note for the SeaWolves teams two weekends ago when they traveled to Auburn to participate in the CanAm Tournament. This year’s CanAm marks the 23rd year that men’s teams from Canada have traveled across the border to take to the court against Southern Maine Community College, or host school Central Maine Community College. On the women’s side of the basketball court, this marks the seventh year that they have been included in the CanAm.

The season officially tipped off Saturday when the Lady SeaWolves took to the court to square off against Cegep Champlain-St. Lawerence in the first of four games for the day. The SeaWolves would find themselves in a hole after the first 10 minutes of play (19-14) and manage to level the scoreboard at halftime at 32 apiece.

The third quarter would prove to be the go-ahead quarter for the SeaWolves, has they would double Cegep’s scoring total, 18 points to 9. Even though the ‘Wolves would get outscored in the fourth quarter by 1 point, after 40 minutes of play the Lady SeaWolves registered their first win of the season (62-54).

Individually, Alicia Ruth lead the SeaWolves with 15 points, all of which came from behind the three-point arch. Freshman Emily Emerson finished the day with 13 rebounds, 8 points and six steals. Team co-captains Emily Hogan and Jordan Farquharson rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10 points apiece.

In the second game of the day for the SeaWolves, the men’s team tipped off against St. Thomas University shortly after the women’s game concluded, opening up the scoring on a Ryan Cloutier three-pointer. SMCC would never relinquish the lead. The ‘Wolves would end the first 20 minutes of play, building a 14-point lead when the halftime buzzer sounded.

While The Beacon has not singled out a player as “the player of the game,” (a policy that we are currently re-evaluating), Dylan Silvestri’s 24 points and 26 rebounds make the case for such an acknowledgment. Silvestri would grab 10 of his game-high rebounds in the first half while scoring 14 points. In his first collegiate contest, Gregory Trinidad would drain the net for 15 points, 9 of which came from beyond the arch.

Sunday rounded out the two days of CanAm play, as the Lady ‘Wolves took to the court against the University of New Brunswick-St. Johns (UNBSJ). The SMCC Lady ‘Wolves would build a 7-point lead with a little more than two minutes remaining in the first quarter behind the scoring of Emily Hogan (6 points), Abigail Ramirez (5 points), and Emily Emerson and Jordan Farquharson’s 4 points each.

St. John’s would get one of the points back in the second half, cutting SMCC’s lead to three as they outscored the Lady Wolves 11 to 10. The trend would continue in the third quarter, when UNBSJ cut 2 more points off the SeaWolves’ score, pulling within 1 after 30 minutes of play.

The fourth quarter would prove to be pivotal for SMCC, as they would be outscored 15-8. They could not find their offense flow and suffered their first loss of the season (61-55). First-year SeaWolf Abigail Ramirez and Emily Emerson would lead the way for the ‘Wolves in the box score, recording 15 and 13 points, respectively. Ramirez would grab six boards, dish out four assists and pick UNBSJ’s pockets for two seals. Emerson made her presence felt on the backboards by grabbing nine rebounds.

The weekend would end on a solid note for the SeaWolves: The men would grab a 14-point win over the UNBSJ’s team (82-68). The SeaWolves bookended the first half with two impressive runs. The first, a 12-4 run, came in the opening minutes of the game. A 15-2 run would close the first 20 minutes of play, propelling SMCC to a 12-point halftime lead (39-27).

Individually, Ryan Cloutier would end the day with a career-high 22 points, 13 of which came in the second half. Cloutier would drain four from beyond the arch. Trent Bishop would come off of the bench and take it to the net, scoring a career-high for himself. Bishop would finish the day with 15 points, 9 of which were the result of three-for-three shooting from three-point land.

Rounding out the high scoring were co-captains Dylan Silvestri and Anderson Kavutse, who combined for 18 points and 15 rebounds, helping the SeaWolves to a 2-0 start of their season.