Men’s Basketball Falters at Lasell, 83-75

NEWTON, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team suffered an 83-75 setback at Lasell Tuesday evening in the first matchup between the teams since 2000.

The Lions dip to 2-3 on the season with the loss while the Lasers improve to 2-2 overall.

Bernie McGuinness (Cumming, Ga.) netted a team-high 13 points and grabbed seven boards. Levi Grady-White (Springfield, Mass.) and Corey McGhee (Alexandria, Va.) each finished with 12 points. Deonta Pearson (Westland, Mich.) scored 11 points off the bench and Nick Manso (Brick, N.J.) added 10 points. Ozzy Traill III (Valley Stream, N.Y.) chipped in with nine points, seven assists, and five rebounds.

After a back-and-forth start to the game, the home team claimed a 23-15 lead with 7:41 remaining in the first half as EJ Day connected on a back-to-back three-pointers.

Lasell pushed its advantage to 28-17 on a layup by Kevin Vanderhorst with 6:04 left to play.

The visitors responded with an 11-0 run to knot the contest at 30-30 with 1:08 to go in the frame.

Eastern Nazarene trailed 34-33 at the break after shooting 46.4% from the floor and 42.9% from long distance in the opening 20 minutes of action. The Lasers posted a field-goal percentage of 38.7% to go with 5-for-14 shooting from beyond the arc in the first half.

The hosts seized a seven-point edge, 54-47, midway through the second stanza as Day knocked down a jumper.

The Lions pulled even at 68-68 with 3:16 left to play in regulation as Grady-White sank a pair of free throws.

Lasell gained a 78-70 lead on a trey by Conan McCusker with less than a minute remaining.

The Lasers converted 5-of-6 free throw attempts down the stretch to secure their second-ever win in the all-time series.

Eastern Nazarene finished with a field-goal percentage of 50.9% on the night while draining 6-of-19 three-point attempts. Lasell shot 43.1% from the floor, 32.0% from behind the arc, and buried 19-of-23 chances from the charity stripe.

Vanderhorst led the Lasers with 21 points and 13 rebounds while Day notched 20 points with four assists. Kevin Nunez chalked up 17 points and Jonathan Friberg contributed 12 points.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will partake in the Bridgewater State Cave Classic November 19 and 20. The Lions will face the host Bears in the opening tilt November 19.