Men’s Basketball Knocks Off New England College, 68-66

HENNIKER, N.H.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team edged New England College 68-66 on the road Saturday afternoon.

The Lions improve to 3-3 on the season with the win while the Pilgrims fall to 6-4 overall.

Luke Dagley (Weymouth, Mass.) poured in a team-high 13 points while Shawn Wright (Baltimore, Md.) notched 11 points and five boards. Ozzy Traill III (Valley Stream, N.Y.), Josef Buford (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.), and Deonta Pearson (Westland, Mich.) all chipped in with nine points on the day.

The visitors chalked up the final seven points of the first half to sport a 10-point advantage at the halftime break, 32-22.

Eastern Nazarene shot 35.1% from the floor and just 18.2% from beyond the arc in the opening frame. New England College posted a field-goal percentage of 29.6% in the first half while connecting on 4-of-15 from three-point range.

Late in the second stanza, the home side trimmed the margin to four as Jamal Allen sank a jumper with 40 seconds remaining, 64-60.

After the Pilgrims' Stephen Fama converted a three-point play from the charity stripe to narrow the gap to 64-63, Traill drilled a free throw to push the Lions' lead to 65-63 with 17 seconds to go.

New England College pulled to within one, 65-64, with eight ticks on the clock as Fama made the second of two free throw attempts.

Eastern Nazarene responded with a pair of free throws by Ka'Shaun Swan (Lawrenceville, Ga.) with seven seconds left to play to claim a three-point edge, 67-64.

The hosts sliced the deficit to 67-66 with five seconds to go on two free throws by Allen.

The guests sealed the two-point victory as Traill drilled a free throw with three seconds remaining.

The Lions finished the game with a field-goal percentage of 38.2% and drained 4-of-18 from downtown. The Pilgrims shot 35.1% from the floor on the afternoon and were limited to just 19.2% shooting from long distance.

Fama paced New England College with 17 points while Allen added 16 points. Deven Okowuga posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene travels to the Ocean State to battle Johnson & Wales April 6.