Men’s Basketball Collects 83-51 Road Victory Over Lesley

MEDFORD, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team pulled away for an 83-51 win over Lesley Thursday evening at Medford High School.

The Lions climb to 6-8 overall and 3-2 in the New England Collegiate Conference with the victory. The Lynx slide to 1-11 on the year and 0-4 in league play with the outcome.

Levi Grady-White (Springfield, Mass.) netted 14 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead the offense. Noah Cheney (Bend, Ore.) and Ricky Shearman (Acworth, Ga.) each notched 13 points on the night. Josh Rice (Hanson, Mass.) chipped in with 11 points and five boards off the bench while D'Eric Marlowe (North Las Vegas, Nev.) added eight points and six rebounds.

The visitors strung together an early 5-0 run before the hosts battled back to claim a 13-9 edge with 13:44 left to play in the first half.

Lesley extended its lead to 11 points with six minutes left to play in the period on a three-pointer by Joey Martin, 27-16.

Eastern Nazarene closed out the opening stanza with unanswered points gain a 39-30 lead just before the halftime horn.

Eastern Nazarene shot 48.1% from the floor and just 1-of-9 from behind the arc in the first frame. Lesley compiled a field-goal percentage of 45.8% in the opening half while connecting on 7-of-14 from three-point distance.

The Lions widened the margin to a dozen on their first possession of the second period as Cheney canned a trey, 42-30.

The Lynx trimmed the deficit to 42-37 with 18:33 remaining in regulation on a basket by Treyvon Trent.

The guests reclaimed a double-digit lead on a layup by Cheney with 15:32 to go in the contest, 51-40.

Eastern Nazarene expanded its advantage to 76-46 as Garrett Crandell (Bristol, Tenn.) banked in a layup with 4:56 on the clock.

The Lions concluded the contest with a field-goal percentage of 55.6% while draining 5-of-17 three-point attempts. Lesley shot 40.4% from the floor on the evening and 42.9% from long range.  

Trent paced the hosts with 21 points while Martin registered 18 points.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene hosts Newbury January 15.