Top-Seed Men’s Hoops Powers Past Lesley to Reach NECC Championship Game

QUINCY, Mass.-  The No. 1 seed Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team defeated fourth-seeded Lesley 91-66 Wednesday evening at the Lahue Athletic Center to punch its ticket to the New England Collegiate Conference championship game.

The Lions improve to 14-11 on the year with the victory while the Lynx finish the season with a 2-20 overall record.

Levi Grady-White (Springfield, Mass.) posted a double-double with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Bernie McGuinness (Cumming, Ga.) poured in 16 points and grabbed eight boards. Nick Manso (Brick, N.J.) tallied 14 points on the night. Ozzy Traill III (Valley Stream, N.Y.) recorded 11 points, six assists, and four rebounds.

The home side snagged a six-point edge with 11:20 left in the first half as Will Zarges (Quincy, Mass.) splashed a three-pointer, 21-15.

After the visitors cut the deficit to 29-27, Eastern Nazarene chalked up eight unanswered points to push its advantage to 37-27 with 1:59 remaining in the frame.

Deonta Pearson (Westland, Mich.) knocked down a jumper in the final seconds of the half to stretch the halftime lead to 41-30.

The Lions shot 47.2% from the floor and 26.7% from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes. Lesley posted a field-goal percentage of 42.9% in the opening period while connecting on 6-of-12 from three-point range.

Eastern Nazarene widened the gap to 20 points with 14:37 remaining on a bucket by Manso, 58-38.

The hosts maintained a double-digit advantage throughout the second stanza en route to punching their ticket to the NECC title contest.

The Lions concluded the game with a field-goal percentage of 46.1% to go with 9-of-34 effort from behind the arc. The Lynx shot 41.3% from the deck and 32% from long distance on the night.

Gabe McCrary paced Lesley with 19 points, six assists, and four steals. Marco Powells chipped in with 17 points and Malachi Howard notched a double-double with 16 points and 11 boards.

Up next, top-seeded Eastern Nazarene will host No. 2 seed Mitchell in the NECC championship game February 26.