BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Northampton men's basketball team opened the 2018-19 season with a 100-92 setback to Essex County College on Thursday evening at the Arthur L. Scott Center.

The NJCAA Division II Wolverines took a 49-36 lead into the locker room at halftime, but the Spartans rallied in the second half, taking a brief 74-72 lead with approximately 8 minutes remaining, before Essex was able to regain control and earn the victory. 

Jay Davis (Northwest, PA/Hatboro-Horsham) scored 25 points, Tony James (Harrisburg, PA/Harrisburg) added 25 points and 13 rebounds and freshman point guard D'Andre Davis (York, PA/York Catholic) finished with 11 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. 

"We got beat by a good team tonight," remarked Head Coach Brennan McCarthy, "we hurt ourselves in the first half with some sloppy play, but give Essex credit they have some good weapons both inside and out.  I thought we did a good job in the second half, but we dug ourselves too deep of a hole and used too much energy early in the second half to get out of it and didn't have enough left for the stretch run."

Elijah Barrett (Harrisburg, PA/Harrisburg) added 9 points and 11 boards and Evan Chandler (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin East) contributed 11 points for the Spartans. 

Northampton, 0-1 overall, hosts NJCAA Division II Niagara County Community College (NY) on Saturday at 2pm.