Men’s Basketball Tops Middlebury in BSU Cave Classic Championship Game

BRIDGEWATER, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team posted an 85-75 win over Middlebury to capture the Bridgewater State Cave Classic Tip-Off Tournament championship Saturday afternoon.

The Lions improve to 4-3 overall with the victory while the Panthers, who are receiving votes in the NABC Preseason Coaches' Poll, move to 2-2 on the season with the result.

Bernie McGuinness (Cumming, Ga.) garnered Tournament MVP honors after averaging 23.5 points and 8.0 rebounds across the two games while Nick Manso (Brick, N.J.) was also selected to the All-Tournament team.

McGuinness poured in a game-high 29 points and gathered eight rebounds. Manso finished with 17 points and Levi Grady-White (Springfield, Mass.) tallied 12 points. Corey McGhee (Alexandria, Va.) racked up nine points, nine assists, and seven boards. Ka'Shaun Swan (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and Pat Taylor (Lakeland, Fla.) each chipped in with seven points off the bench.

The first half saw 10 lead changes and five tie scores with the largest margin separating the two teams amounting to four points after Eastern Nazarene chalked up back-to-back layups to open the scoring.

The Lions narrowly clung to a one-point edge at the half, 32-31, and sported a field-goal percentage of 48.3%. Middlebury shot 43.3% from the floor in the opening frame. Both squads drained four three-pointers in the first 20 minutes of action.

Eastern Nazarene stretched its lead to 40-33 with 17:54 remaining in the second stanza as Manso splashed a trey.

The Lions pushed their advantage to double-digits on a three-pointer by McGuinness with 14:24 to go, 47-37.

Eastern Nazarene closed out the contest with a 10-for-12 showing from the free throw line in the final 1:21 to secure a victory over the Panthers in the first-ever matchup.

The Lions shot 52.6% from the floor and 50% from behind the arc on the afternoon. Middlebury finished with a field-goal percentage of 40.9% to go with an 8-for-30 clip from three-point territory.

Sam Stevens paced the Panthers with 19 points while Alex Sobel registered 14 points and Noah Osher added 12 points.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene heads to Emmanuel November 23.