Pilgrims Capture TCCC Win in Men's Basketball
The New England College Pilgrims captured their first conference win of the season beating the visiting Eastern Nazarene College Crusaders 82-77 Tuesday evening. The win improves the Pilgrims to 6-16 overall and 1-9 in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC.) The loss drops the Crusaders to 4-18 overall and 1-9 in the TCCC.
The two teams would battle evenly through the opening minutes before Eastern Nazarene would use a 10-2 run to go up 15 with 7:16 remaining in the half. NEC would work their way back into the game finishing the half on a 7-2 run of their own heading into halftime down just 35-41.
The two teams would continue to battle in the second half with the Pilgrims capturing their first lead of the contest at the 15:54 mark going up 52-51. The game would continue to be a back and forth battle with five ties and three lead changes before the Pilgrims would use a 7-0 run to go up 75-68 with 6:18 remaining. The Cursaders would cut the lead to just two points with 2:50 remaining but NEC would convert on their foul shots late down the stretch to hold on for the 82-77 victory.
Leading the way for the Pilgrims was Ryan Jaziri (Norwich, Conn.) who broke the all-time scoring record at NEC finishing with a game-high 36 points. NEC’s Kingsley Onyechi (Lowell, Mass.) chipped in 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Joe Brown (Great Mills, Md.) finished with 15 points for the Pilgrims.
Leading the way for Eastern Nazarene College was Luc Jasmin (Pawtucket, R.I.) who finished with a team-high 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. ENC’s Andrew Brown (New London, N.H.) chipped in 10 points, while Jean-Paul Marcellus (Dorchester, Mass.) finished with 15 rebounds for the Crusaders.
