Cummings Nets 1,000th Career Point, Men's Hoops Defeats WestConn, 88-69

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - Senior guard Kevin Cummings (Portsmouth, N.H.) scored 18 points, including the 1,000th of his career, as the University of Saint Joseph (USJ) men's basketball team defeated Western Connecticut State University (WCSU), 88-69, Monday afternoon inside James A. Calhoun Gymnasium in the consolation game of the USJ Holiday Tournament, presented by Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast. With the win, the Blue Jays improved to 7-4 on the season, while the Wolves dropped to 6-6.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The visiting Wolves jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, but junior guard Lence Altenor (Everett, Mass.) made two three-pointers on back-to-back USJ possessions to give the hosts a 6-5 lead with 17:19 left in the first half.
• With 12:53 left in the opening half, Cummings reached the 1,000-point mark by connecting on a three-pointer from the wing to extend the USJ lead to 19-12.
• Later in the half in just over a three-minute span, senior guard Amadou Kamara (West Haven, Conn.) got red hot, scoring 10 of 12 USJ points to give the Blue Jays a 37-14 edge with 6:15 left in the first stanza.
• In the second half, sophomore guard Alijah Lovelace (Brooklyn, N.Y.) made his first three-pointer of the season to give USJ a 26-point lead, its largest lead of the game (61-36) with 13:23 left.
• The Wolves fought back though, cutting their deficit all the way down to 12 after junior guard Jahlyl Morgan (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) hit a three-pointer to make the score 61-49 with 9:55 to play.
• The Blue Jays responded, as the USJ lead got back to over 20 points after Altenor made a three-pointer to give the hosts a 76-54 lead with 6:24 left in the game.
• Connecticut College defeated Farmingdale State, 67-55, in the championship game to win the third iteration of the USJ Holiday Tournament. The Camels became the third different program to win the tournament as UMass Dartmouth took first place last year and USJ took home the top spot back in 2019.
• Jourdan Belcher (Western Connecticut), Lence Altenor (USJ), Liam Buckley (Farmingdale State), Cam Schainfield (Connecticut College), Elias Espinosa (Connecticut College) were all named to the USJ Holiday All-Tournament Team, including Espinosa who took home the tournament's title of Most Valuable Player.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Cummings played his first two collegiate seasons at Colby-Sawyer College before transferring to USJ ahead of last season. Cummings scored 644 points with the Chargers and after today's contest, he has 371 points and counting for the Blue Jays. He is the sixth player in the program's seven-year history to score 1,000 career points.
• USJ made a season-high 14 three-pointers and pulled down a season-high 40 rebounds.
• Three Blue Jays scored in double-figures: Altenor (game-high 20 points), Cummings (18 points), and Kamara (career-high 10 points).
• Lovelace made his first career start and scored a career-high nine points.
• The Blue Jays evened the all-time series against the Wolves, 1-1.

UP NEXT

The Blue Jays will start 2025 on the road at Nazareth University on Saturday, January 4 in their final non-conference game of the 2024-25 regular season. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. inside Kidera Gymnasium in Rochester, N.Y. It will mark the first matchup all-time between the Blue Jays and Golden Flyers.

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