BOSTON, Mass. – Senior Austin Coene (Tyngsborough, Mass.) recorded a double-double with 32 points and 10 rebounds as the Roger Williams University men's basketball team defeated Wentworth Institute of Technology, 84-72, in Commonwealth Coast Conference action Saturday afternoon.
With the win the Hawks improve to 11-9 overall and 8-3 in CCC play while the Leopards fall to 6-13 (4-7).
Roger Williams jumped out to a 7-2 lead after a three pointer from sophomore Drew Hart (Cheshire, Conn.) and saw their lead swell to eight (19-11) by using an 8-2 run which was capped off by a Hart jumper. Countering with a 13-2 run, Wentworth took a 24-21 lead with 6:43 remaining after a junior Matt Vartanian (Salem, N.H.). The Hawks went on a 13-5 run and took a 34-29 lead after senior Jake Heaton (Shelton, Conn.) hit a three with 2:41 remaining. Vartanian ended the run with a layup, however, Roger Williams scored the final six points of the half and led, 40-31, at the break.
After Hart made a jumper with 17:07 remaining to extend the lead to nine (45-36), the Leopards used an 11-3 run to get back in the game, closing the gap to one (48-47) on a freshman Noah Bice (Woodacre, Calif.) layup. A junior Rich Pugliese (Middlebury, Conn.) basket stopped the run but Vartanian converted a three-point play and would hit one of two free throws nearly a minute later to give Wentworth a 51-50 lead with 11:09 remaining. Roger Williams took the lead back after Heaton made a three pointer to cap off a 10-1 run and give the Hawks a 60-52 lead. Junior Stephen Azums made a layup and Bice hit two free throws to cut the lead to four, however the lead went back to nine after Coene hit two free throws with 6:03 left.
Trailing by 10 (68-58) with 5:23 remaining, the Black & Gold made one last run, cutting the lead to four on a sophomore Gavin Keough (Dunstable, Mass.) three pointer with 3:15 left. Heaton countered with a second-chance jumper which started a 7-1 spurt and extended Roger Williams' lead.
Coene was one of four Hawks to score in double figures as Hart added 14 on 6-of-8 shooting, sophomore JJ Pfohl (Cheshire, Conn.) scored 13 points, and Heaton scored 11 points. Roger Williams shot 52.8 percent from the floor for the contest.
Azums led the Leopards with 19 points to go along with nine rebounds as four members of the Black & Gold were in double figures. Sophomore Kyle Henseler (Coventry, R.I.) scored 15 points, Keough added 14, and Bice finished with 11.
Wentworth is at Gordon on Wednesday night.
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