(Courtesy of Roger Williams Sports Information)
The Wentworth Institute of Technology men's basketball team won its second straight The Commonwealth Coast Conference contest with a 71-64 win Saturday afternoon.
Outside of Shane West's (Saco, Maine) opening layup for Wentworth, Roger Williams held the momentum early in the beginning the game, starting the contest on an 11-5 run. The Hawks maintained at least a four-point advantage throughout most of the first half, with their largest lead 28-21 with 4:35 to play in the period.
Yet a 10-2 Leopard run helped Wentworth regain the lead, going up 31-30 with under a minute to play in the half. RWU would go back up by two into the break on a three-pointer by Gary Madison (Waterbury, Conn.).
The Hawks opened the half with four straight points to take a 37-31 lead before a 14-2 run by Wentworth turned a six-point lead into a six-point deficit for Roger Williams with 14:05 to play. Over the next six minutes, the Wentworth lead would hover between five and eight as Roger Williams attempted to get back in the game.
The Hawks were done in by a 5-2 run over a five-and-a-half minute stretch in which RWU went 0-6 from the field and 2-4 from the foul line. Roger Williams went from trailing only 52-57 with 7:29 to play to down 54-64 with 1:51 to play. The ten-point advantage for Wentworth held up, as the Leopards would go on to win by seven.
Sam Herrick (Duxbury, Mass.) finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double for Wentworth, with teammate West adding 13 points and three rebounds. In all, four Leopards scored in double digits, including Jack Barrett (Reading, Mass.) with 11 and Matt Abbott (Falmouth, Mass.) with ten.
Madison led the Hawks with 18 points, while Taylor Petruccelli (Stratford, Conn.) had 16 points and eight rebounds. Corey Fava (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) finished with 12 points and five rebounds, playing in all 40 minutes.
Roger Williams (9-6, 1-2 TCCC) will take on Gordon College Wednesday at 8:00 p.m., while Wentworth (6-8, 2-1 TCCC) hosts Western New England College Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.