Men’s Hoops Drops Regular Season Finale to Mitchell, 88-77

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team suffered an 88-77 setback to Mitchell Monday afternoon at the Lahue Athletic Center in the final regular-season contest.

The Lions move to 13-11 overall and claim a share of the New England Collegiate Conference regular-season title with a 4-2 mark. The Mariners improve to 15-10 on the season and 4-2 in conference play with the win.

Bernie McGuinness (Cumming, Ga.) netted 19 points to lead the offense. Levi Grady-White (Springfield, Mass.) tallied 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Corey McGhee (Alexandria, Va.) notched 17 points and five boards. Ka'Shaun Swan (Lawrenceville, Ga.) chipped in with 11 points off the bench.

The visitors captured a 24-18 lead midway through the first half as Hunter Baillargeon tossed in a layup.

Back-to-back three-pointers by McGuinness leveled the score at 24-24 before McGhee and McGuinness knocked down jumpers to give the home side a 28-24 edge with 5:54 remaining in the frame.

Mitchell reclaimed the lead with 3:10 on the clock and hung on to a 41-38 edge at the break.

Eastern Nazarene pulled even at 52-52 on a basket by Grady-White with 13:16 left to play.

The Mariners stretched the margin to 11, 75-64, as Baillargeon canned a trey with 4:58 remaining in regulation.

Mitchell outscored the Lions 8-6 in the final two minutes to secure its fourth-straight victory.

Eastern Nazarene concluded the contest with a field-goal percentage of 46.8% while connecting on 5-of-16 from three-point range. The guests shot 56.1% from the floor and 46.2% from behind the arc on the afternoon.

Alfonzo Stokes paced the Mariners with a game-high 30 points and eight rebounds. Wilton Causey poured in 19 points off the bench while Ahmani Browne added 13 points and Mikey Buscetto recorded 10 points.

By virtue of a series of tiebreakers, Eastern Nazarene earned the No. 1 seed in the NECC Tournament and will host fourth-seeded Lesley in the semifinals February 23.