Men’s Basketball Cruises Past Lesley, 85-49

MEDFORD, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team coasted to an 85-49 victory at Lesley Saturday afternoon.

The Lions climb to 13-10 on the season and 4-1 in the New England Collegiate Conference with the win, guaranteeing at least a share of the NECC regular-season title. The Lynx slide to 2-19 overall and 0-6 in league play with the setback.

Bernie McGuinness (Cumming, Ga.) notched his fourth-consecutive double-double and ninth on the year, pouring in a season-high 30 points and grabbing 11 boards. Nick Manso (Brick, N.J.) netted 12 points and dished out six assists. Ka'Shaun Swan (Lawrenceville, Ga.) tallied 11 points off the bench.

The guests grabbed a 23-12 advantage with 5:57 left to play in the first half as Manso banked in a layup.

Eastern Nazarene sported a 31-22 halftime lead and posted a field-goal percentage of 39.4% in the opening 20 minutes of play. Lesley shot 37% from the deck and went 0-for-10 from behind the arc in the first frame.

The Lions chalked up the first seven points of the second stanza to widen the gap to 38-22 with 17:48 remaining.

The visitors pushed the margin to 37 points, their largest lead of the contest, as Xavier Depina (Whitman, Mass.) sank the first of two free throws with 52 seconds to go, 83-46.

Eastern Nazarene outscored Lesley 54-27 in the second half to return to the win-column.

The Lions shot 48.5% from the floor and 32.1% from beyond the arc on the afternoon. The Lynx were limited to a field-goal percentage of 33.9% and just 2-for-21 from three-point range.

Scott Barlow and Malachi Howard paced Lesley with eight points each while Kyle Murphy added seven points and seven rebounds.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene wraps up the regular season February 21 at home against Mitchell in a pivotal conference showdown.