Men’s Basketball Tops Western New England, 74-61, in Midweek Matchup

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team snapped a five-game skid with a 74-61 win over Western New England Wednesday evening at the Lahue Physical Education Center.

The Lions improve to 10-12 on the season and 7-8 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with the result. The Golden Bears sink to 5-17 overall and 3-14 in league action with the loss.

Corey Doran (Fairfield, Calif.) notched his second double-double of the season, registering 21 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Christian Lynch (Alpharetta, Ga.) also poured in 21 points and collected nine rebounds. Anthony Petrilli (Santa Clarita, Calif.) chipped in with nine points and seven assists while Josh Rice (Hanson, Mass.) netted nine points.

After the visitors grabbed an early 5-0 edge, the home team stormed back to seize a 6-5 lead with 14:48 left to play in the first frame as Lynch rolled in a layup.

Western New England captured a four-point advantage on a bucket by Mikey Pettway with 14:01 to go in the half.

Eastern Nazarene leveled the game at 13-13 as Doran dropped in a layup with 9:15 remaining in the opening stanza.

The Lions strung together a 10-0 run to establish a 25-18 advantage with five minutes left to play in the first period.

The Golden Bears answered with nine straight points to snag a 27-25 edge with 2:50 on the clock.

A pair of layups by Lynch in the final two minutes of the first half gave the home team a narrow 30-27 lead heading into the halftime intermission.

Eastern Nazarene boasted a field-goal percentage of 44.8% at the midway point of the contest. Western New England shot 27.8% from the floor in the opening frame.

The Golden Bears took a one-point edge just 1:12 into the second stanza on a layup by Mike McGuire, 33-32.

The Lions regained the lead, extending the gap to 47-38 with 13:02 remaining as Christian Garcia (Miami, Fla.) splashed a trey.

Eastern Nazarene stretched its advantage to 10 with 6:04 left to play, 61-51, on a fast-break layup by Doran.

The home team maintained a double-figure lead throughout the majority of the final six minutes of action en route to picking up its 10th victory of the season.

The Lions shot 52.5% from the floor and 35.7% from the perimeter on the night. The Golden Bears finished with a field-goal percentage of 32.4% while connecting on 8-of-27 from three-point range.

Mike Gelineau paced Western New England with 10 points on the evening.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene treks to Biddeford, Maine to battle the University of New England February 11.