Men’s Basketball Overpowers Curry, 94-58

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team poured in 54 second-half points en route to a 94-58 victory over Curry Wednesday evening at the Lahue Physical Education Center.

The Lions improve to 13-5 on the year and 7-4 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with the win. The Colonels slide to 0-18 overall and 0-11 in league play.

Justin Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) paced the home side with 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting from long range. Eric Lynch (Alpharetta, Ga.) scored a season-high 18 points while adding four boards, three steals and three assists. Jaylen Owens (Johns Creek, Ga.) finished with 14 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Lequan Gomes (Fairfield, Calif.) recorded 12 points and grabbed six boards. Christian Lynch (Alpharetta, Ga.) posted 11 points and a pair of steals off the bench while Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) collected a team-high nine rebounds.

Eastern Nazarene netted the first six points of the game and stretched its lead to nine, 19-10, with 10:38 to go in the opening period on a trey by Owens.

Curry leveled the score at 35-35 with 52 seconds left to play in the first half on a layup by Paul Preziosi.

The Lions chalked up the final five points of the half to hold a 40-35 advantage at intermission. Christian Lynch capped off the first frame with a fast-break layup after Eric Lynch corralled a rebound and slung an outlet-pass to spring his younger brother.

Eastern Nazarene sported a field-goal percentage of 40.5% at the half to go with 38.5% from three-point distance. Curry connected on 50% of its attempts in the first frame while draining just 27.3% of its shots from the perimeter.

Owens led the Lions with nine points at halftime while Anthony Petrilli (Woodland Hills, Calif.), Gomes and Justin Wagner all tallied six.

The visitors cut the deficit to two less than five minutes into the second stanza, 45-43, as Trey Jones tossed in a layup.

The hosts utilized an 11-3 span to widen the gap to 10 with 11:37 left to play, 56-46.

Eastern Nazarene maintained a favorable double-digit margin throughout the remainder of the contest and expanded its lead to 36 in the waning seconds as Micah Simmons-Smalls (Kingston, N.Y.) rolled in a layup.

The Lions shot 49.3% from the floor on the night and 45.8% from beyond the arc. The Colonels finished with a field-goal percentage of 40.7% to go with 3-of-20 shooting from downtown.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene visits Gordon January 30.