Strong Second Half Effort Lifts Men’s Hoops to 93-73 Victory over Pine Manor

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team rallied from a four-point halftime-deficit to prevail 93-73 over Pine Manor Tuesday evening at the Lahue Physical Education Center.

The Lions improve to 2-1 on the year with the win while the Gators drop to 1-3 overall.

Josh Rice (Hanson, Mass.) paced the home team with a career-high 24 points off the bench while also grabbing eight rebounds. Trey'von Davis (Moore, S.C.) netted a season-best 19 points and hauled in eight boards. Noah Cheney (Bend, Ore.) finished with 18 points, seven assists, and four rebounds on the night. Jacob Waldroop (Newland, N.C.) posted 14 points and six assists.

Eastern Nazarene established an early nine-point edge, 14-5, as Waldroop drained a pair of free throws less than four minutes into the game.

Pine Manor pulled even at 20-20 with 12:24 left to play in the first half on a free throw by Lou Savage.

The Lions reclaimed a five-point lead with 11:34 remaining in the opening stanza as Davis knocked down the first of two free throw attempts, 25-20.

The Gators strung together a 13-1 run to capture a 33-26 lead with 7:45 to go in the first frame, capped off by a fast-break dunk by Savage.

Eastern Nazarene trimmed the deficit to 38-36 with less than two minutes left to play in the first half on a pair of free throws by Rice.

After Luke Dagley (Weymouth, Mass.) splashed a trey from the corner to cut the margin to three, Pine Manor chalked up a free throw to hold a 45-41 advantage at the break.

Eastern Nazarene shot 55% from the floor and connected on 40% of its three-point attempts in the first half. Pine Manor sported a field-goal percentage of 46.4% at the half to go with just 1-for-8 shooting from beyond the arc.

Rice paced the Lions with 13 points and three rebounds off the bench while Davis tallied seven points and grabbed four boards in the first frame.

The home team leveled the game at 49-49 on a three-pointer by Rice 3:24 into the second stanza.

After Pine Manor's Jamel Hamans nailed a trey, Eastern Nazarene tallied 10 unanswered points to seize a 59-52 lead with 14:23 remaining in regulation.

The Lions extended the margin to 14 as Davis completed a three-point play at the charity stripe with 10:41 on the clock, 69-55.

The visitors narrowed the gap to 73-68 on a basket by Eugene Everett with 6:29 left to play.

Eastern Nazarene bounced back with nine consecutive points to push its lead to 14 with four minute to go, 82-68.

The hosts finished the game on a 10-0 run to lock up the come-from-behind win.  

The Lions shot 58.7% from the floor on the night and 45.8% from behind the arc. The Gators concluded the contest with a field-goal percentage of 38.7% while sinking just 3-of-19 from three-point land.

Hamans paced Pine Manor with 15 points while Savage added 12 and Rasheed Bell chipped in 11 points.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will host New England College November 25.