Men’s Basketball Stumbles at Emmanuel Tuesday

BOSTON, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team dropped an 78-65 decision at Emmanuel Tuesday evening.

The Lions fall to 4-4 on the year with the result while the Saints improve to 4-1 overall.

Nick Manso (Brick, N.J.) scored a team-high 15 points on the night. Corey McGhee (Alexandria, Va.) netted 12 points and eight rebounds. Bernie McGuinness (Cumming, Ga.) finished with seven points and eight boards while D'khari Brown (Boston, Mass.) and Deonta Pearson (Westland, Mich.) also chipped in with seven points off the bench.

The guests sprinted out to a double-digit lead less than five minutes into the game as McGuinness splashed a trey, 15-5.

Eastern Nazarene stretched its advantage to 12 with 8:46 remaining in the first half as Ozzy Traill III (Valley Stream, N.Y.) drilled a three-pointer from the left wing, 26-14.

The Lions boasted a 37-31 lead at the break and shot 46.4% from the floor while connecting on 4-of-8 from behind the arc. The home side posted a field-goal percentage of 33.3% in the opening frame with a 40% clip from three-point range.

The Saints snagged a slim 42-49 edge on a pair of layups by Donte Pope with 16:49 left to play.

Emmanuel widened the margin to 62-43 with 11:05 on the clock as Devin Pulsifer knocked down a jumper.

The home team outscored the visitors 23-20 in the final 10 minutes to earn its fourth win of the season.

Eastern Nazarene concluded the contest with a field-goal percentage of 38.3% to go with a 7-for-18 effort from long distance. The Saints shot 45.6% from the floor and 40.9% from deep on the evening.

Pope paced Emmanuel with a game-high 19 points while Giovanni Ciampa notched 16 points and Zach Crisafulli added 11 points.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene returns to the hardwood November 30 as it treks to Northern Vermont-Lyndon.