Men’s Hoops Cruises to 85-62 Victory Over Curry

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team captured an 85-62 win over Curry Tuesday evening at the Lahue Physical Education Center as the two teams met on the hardwood for the 26th-straight season.

The Lions elevate to 3-5 on the season with the result while the Colonels slide to 0-9 overall.

Josh Rice (Hanson, Mass.) scored a game-best 22 points while hauling in six rebounds. David Lopez (Miami, Fla.) notched his second double-double of the year with 12 points and 13 boards on the night and added three blocks and three assists. Garrett Crandell (Bristol, Tenn.) recorded 16 points and five boards. Jacob Waldroop (Newland, N.C.) finished with nine rebounds, six points, and five assists.

The home side sprung out to an early double-digit lead, 12-2, less than five minutes into the game as Rice tossed in a layup.

Eastern Nazarene extended its advantage to 15 with 11:56 to go in the first period on a three-pointer by Ricky Shearman (Acworth, Ga.), 20-5.

The Lions pushed the margin to 18 points on a bucket by Crandell with 3:24 left to play in the first half, 30-12.

The visitors trimmed the gap to 32-16 just before the halftime horn as Jared Thorpe-Johnson knocked down a baseline-jumper in the final seconds of the stanza.

Eastern Nazarene shot 40% from the floor in the first half and 27.3% from three-point range. Curry was limited to a field-goal percentage of 26.9% in the opening frame to go with 2-for-13 shooting from behind the arc.

Lopez posted eight points and six rebounds at the break while Crandell chipped in with eight points.

The home team strung together a 9-0 run to widen its lead to 23 points, 48-25, with 15:44 remaining in the second half.

The Lions expanded their advantage to 59-27 with 11:37 left to play in the contest as Noah Cheney (Bend, Ore.) banked in a layup.

The Colonels cut the deficit to 63-49 on a trey by Spencer Feng with 8:04 on the clock.

Eastern Nazarene pushed its advantage to 80-55 with 3:02 remaining in regulation as D'Eric Marlowe (North Las Vegas, Nev.) banked in a jumper to cap off a 9-0 run.

The Lions posted a field-goal percentage of 48.5% on the night to go with 9-for-21 shooting from beyond the arc. The Colonels shot 37.5% from the floor and 32.3% from long distance in the game.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene returns to the hardwood December 12 to host Gordon.