BOSTON, Mass. – Three players scored double digits for the visiting Lions, including junior Justin Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) who went 5-for-15 from behind the arc for a game-high 15 points as the Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team defeated , as the Wentworth Institute of Technology 66-45, in Commonwealth Coast Conference action at Tansey Gymnasium.
With the win the Lions improve to 18-3 overall and 11-3 in CCC play while the Leopards see their four-game win streak come to an end, falling to 10-11 (8-6).
Wentworth put the first points on the board with a layup from senior John-Michael Fragnoli (Schenectady, N.Y.), however a 22-4 run by Eastern Nazarene – which included four 3-pointers – gave the visitors a 22-6 run with 11:52 left in the half.
The Leopards chipped away at the lead and used a 7-0 spurt to close out the half only down four. Freshman Sam Knollmeyer drained a buzzer beater to make it 28-24 in favor of the visitors.
Junior Ian Therriault (Auburn, Maine) took advantage of a Lion turnover to open the second half and pulled Wentworth within a pair, however
Wentworth slowly cut away at the lead with six different Leopards contributing to the scoring effort. Freshman Sam Knollmeyer (Hampton, N.H.) nailed a jump shot at the buzzer to go into halftime down only four, with the Lions leading 28-24. However, Wagner nailed back-to-back shots from behind the arc to put the Lions up eight and start a 12-2 run, capped off by a sophomore Christian Lynch (Alpharetta, Ga.) 3-pointer to make it a 43-28 game with 13:26 left.
Fragnoli brought the Leopards back to a single-digit deficit with a jumper in the pain with just over 11:00 left, however Eastern Nazarene responded with a 10-0 run, capped off by a three-point play from junior Jaylen Owens (Johns Creek, Ga.) with 8:06 to play and the leopards were unable to cut the deficit to fewer than 15.
Owens added 11 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, while Lynch added 11 points to round out Eastern Nazarene's three double-figure scorers.
Fragnoli finished with a team-high 10 points, while freshman Jason Ganley (Northbridge, Mass.) came off the bench to score seven. Therriault had four assists and six rebounds.
Both teams continue CCC play on Wednesday as Wentworth is at Western New England and Eastern Nazarene hosts Salve Regina.
