BOSTON, Mass. – Freshman guard Corey Therriault's (Auburn, Maine) five consecutive points in a span of 31 seconds snapped a 77-all tie as the Wentworth men's basketball team fended off a late charge by Western New England with an 84-82 win in the opening round of the 2010 The Commonwealth Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.
After trailing, 2-0 to open the game, the host Leopards used an 11-1 run to take an 11-3 lead with 16:20 left in the half. During the run sophomore guard Adam Dombrowski (Dunstable, Mass.) buried a pair of three pointers while Therriault had four points. The Golden Bears countered with a 9-0 run of their own and took a 12-11 lead on a junior forward Brad Thomka (Springfield, Mass.) layup.
The two teams battled back and forth and Western New England took a 24-21 lead with 7:37 left in the half on a senior guard Brendan Murphy (West Springfield, Mass.) three pointer. However, junior forward Sam Herrick (Duxbury, Mass.) converted a three-point play off a second chance opportunity to knot the game at 24-all. Herrick's three-point play started a 21-5 run that would span the next 4:15 that would give the Leopards a 13-point cushion, a lead they would also have at the break (48-35).
Senior forward Shane West (Milford, N.H.) opened the second half with a basket that gave Wentworth its largest lead, 50-35. Western New England would outscore the Leopards 20-5 over the next 5:15 and tie the game 55-all with 13:58 to play on a pair of Thomka free throws.
Leading 69-68 with 7:07 left, the Golden Bears received five straight points from senior guard Rick Johnson (Springfield, Mass.) to take a six-point lead. Therriault responded with a three pointer and a layup to cut the lead to one, and three of four free throws from Thomka made it a four-point game with 4:14 remaining. The Leopards scored the next nine points, as Dombrowski nailed a jumper and West hit two free throws to tie the game at 77, before Therriault gave Wentworth an 82-77 lead with 2:02 left.
Western New England got as close as two on two occasions, including when Thomka hit a jumper with 6.5 seconds left. On the next possession, West was fouled. After missing the front end of the one and one, the rebound was batted around before sophomore guard Eric Prue (Auburn, Maine) gained possession and ran out the clock.
West finished the game with a career-high 24 points, coming on 9 of 12 shooting. He also had 10 rebounds. Therriault added 16 points, six rebounds, and four assists, while Dombrowski chipped in with 15 points and three steals. Thomka led four double-figure scorers for the Golden Bears, as he tallied 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Johnson finished the game with 17 points and 10 assists, while Murphy and sophomore guard Andrew Shaw (Jamaica, N.Y.) had 14 and 11 points, respectively.
With the win Wentworth improves to 15-10 and advances to the semifinal round of TCCC Tournament, where the second-seeded Leopards will host third-seeded Curry on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The Colonels advanced to the semifinals with a 79-73 win over the University of New England. Western New England finished its season with a 12-14 record.
