Southern Lights: Players from Florida and Georgia lift men's basketball to great heights

By David Nathan

Led by a fourth-year senior from Florida and a pair of brothers from Atlanta, the Lasell men’s basketball team enjoyed its best season since 2003–04.

Longtime Coach Aaron Galletta’s Lasers won six of seven games to open the 2024–25 season and were victorious in their first eight Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) games on the way to a 21–7 record and second-place finish in the league at 12–2.

With 6-foot-4 guard Marcus Lewis ’25 (pictured left) averaging 16.1 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds a game and brothers Esmer ’28 (Lasell-best 16.6 points a game) and Andy Madesko ’27 (7.1 rebounds, 5.6 assists a game) excelling at both ends of the court, the Lasers won their most games in 21 years. The younger Madesko, a 6-foot-1 point guard, joined Lewis on the All-GNAC second team.

Lewis played infrequently in his first year and averaged 5.2 points a game as a sophomore before developing into an all-conference player as a junior. The self-described introvert also became a team leader.

“Everyone made sacrifices for us to win,” says Lewis, who grew up in Fort Lauderdale. “I thought we would be better than last year, but I didn’t think it would be like this.”

Photo by Todd Dionne