Men’s Basketball Notches 93-73 Win at NVU-Lyndon

LYNDONVILLE, Vt.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team returned to the win column with a 93-73 victory at Northern Vermont-Lyndon Thursday afternoon.

The Lions improve to 4-7 on the season with the win while the Hornets slide to 0-13 overall.

Josh Rice (Hanson, Mass.) poured in a game-high 28 points and dished out six assists. Noah Cheney (Bend, Ore.) netted 17 points while Levi Grady-White (Springfield, Mass.) posted 10 points, six boards, and four blocks. Garrett Crandell (Bristol, Tenn.) finished with nine points and seven rebounds while D'Eric Marlowe (North Las Vegas, Nev.) chipped in with a career-best 11 points.

The visitors scored eight consecutive points to snag a 19-10 lead with 9:35 left to play in the first half.

Eastern Nazarene widened the margin to 12 with 8:29 to go in the opening frame as Cheney converted two free throws, 23-11.

The home team cut the deficit to 29-26 on a three-pointer by Luke Fredsell with 4:19 remaining in the half.

The Lions responded with a 7-0 run to reclaim a double-digit advantage, 36-26 with 2:20 on the clock.

Eastern Nazarene sported a 43-34 halftime-lead after shooting 56% from the floor and connecting on 6-of-11 three-point attempts in the first half. NVU posted a field-goal percentage of 37.9% in the opening 20 minutes to go with 4-for-11 sho oting from beyond the arc.

The guests started the second stanza with a stretch of 14 unanswered points to expand their lead to 57-34 with 15:35 left to play.

The Hornets  netted four treys to trim the gap to 13 with 12:40 remaining in regulation, 61-48.

Eastern Nazarene maintained a commanding double-digit advantage throughout the remainder of the contest to snap a short two-game skid.

The Lions finished the game with a field-goal percentage of 55.6% while draining 14-of-24 from behind the arc. NVU-Lyndon shot 36.2% from the floor on the day and 42.3% from long range.

Jahleel Gabriel paced the hosts with 14 points while Zach Falkenburg collected 12 points.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene returns home to resume conference play January 5 against Becker.