Men’s Basketball Falters at Johnson & Wales, 78-63

PROVIDENCE, R.I.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team suffered a 78-63 setback at Johnson & Wales (R.I.) Wednesday evening.

The Lions dip to 6-7 on the season with the result while the Wildcats improve to 3-4 overall.

Bernie McGuinness (Cumming, Ga.) scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed six rebounds. Corey McGhee (Alexandria, Va.) netted 15 points and collected eight boards. Nick Manso (Brick, N.J.) finished with 14 points and four assists.

The home team claimed a 20-7 lead with 13:04 remaining in the first half as a layup by Aireus Raspberry capped off a 10-0 run.

Johnson & Wales widened the margin to 34-18 with 5:23 to go in the opening frame on a bucket by Jonah Phang.

Eastern Nazarene trailed 42-19 at the halfway juncture of the tilt.

The visitors cut the deficit to 58-49 with 9:06 left to play in the second stanza as McGhee converted a pair of free throws before a layup by Manso with 6:36 on the clock pulled the Lions to within five, 60-55.

The Wildcats recaptured a double-digit advantage with 5:34 remaining as Raspberry drilled a three-pointer, 65-55.

Johnson & Wales outscored Eastern Nazarene 13-5 in the final five minutes of action to prevail in the first-ever meeting between the teams.

The Lions concluded the contest with a field-goal percentage of 36.7% while connecting on 35% from beyond the arc. The Wildcats shot 50% from the floor and 34.8% from three-point range on the night.

Bryan Davis and Tim Deng each notched double-doubles for the hosts with Davis recording 17 points and 13 rebounds and Deng registering 16 points and 10 boards. Josh Zangerle tallied 15 points while Bobby Fiorito and Raspberry each added 10 points.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene will start the 2022 portion of the campaign with a road tilt at Westfield State January 10.