Pilgrims fall to Crusaders on the road
New England College men’s basketball is still in search of their first conference victory as the Pilgrims fell to the Eastern Nazarene College Crusaders 49-75 Tuesday evening in Quincy. With the loss the Pilgrims fall to 2-19 overall and 0-10 in conference play.
The two teams would battle evenly through the opening minutes knotted at 12-12 just seven minutes into the game. The Crusaders would use an 11-0 run to grab their first substantial lead of the game up 23-12 with eight minutes remaining in the half. ENC would extend their lead to
18 points but NEC’s Brandon Murray would hit three foul shots in the final 30 seconds sending the Pilgrims into halftime trailing 16 points, 21-37.
The Crusaders would continue to control much of the offense as they would lead by as many as 32 points up 66-34 with just 8:25 remaining in regulation. The Pilgrims would try to claw their way back but the Crusader defense would hold the Pilgrims to just 37% shooting from the field on the night and cruise to the 75-49 victory.
Leading the way for NEC was Rafael Salado who was the only Pilgrim in double-figures scoring 14 points. NEC’s Shane Hennessey score eight points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds while Brandon Murray chipped in eight points for the Pilgrims.
