Pilgrims Men's Basketball Lose to Western New England College
The Western New England College men’s basketball team would shoot an impressive 54% from the floor leading them to a 101-79 victory over the New England College Pilgrims Saturday afternoon. With the win the Golden Bears improve to 13-8 overall and 7-2 in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC.) With the loss the Pilgrims drop to 5-16 overall and 0-9 in the TCCC.
The two teams would battle evenly through the opening minutes which saw five lead changes in the opening seven minutes. WNEC would pull away using a 19-0 run to go up 29-13 with 8:38 remaining in the half. The Pilgrims would try to battle their way back but WNEC would hold the Pilgrims to just 30% shooting from the floor heading into halftime up 50-23.
NEC would chip away at WNEC’s lead trailing by 15 points at 88-71 with 4:12 remaining in regulation. The Golden Bear defense would hold string late shutting down the Pilgrims and holding on for the 101-79 victory.
Six different players scored in double figures for WNEC including Jim Bayne (Bristol, Conn.) who finished with a team-high 18 points. WNEC’s Kyle Fredette (Wallingford, Vt.) finished with 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, while Matt Maynard (Paterson, N.J.) finished with 18 points.
Leading the way for the Pilgrims was Ryan Jaziri (Norwich, Conn.) who finished with a game-high 22 points. NEC’s Kingsley Onyechi (Lowell, Mass.) chipped in 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Joe Brown (Great Mills, Md.) finished with 15 points for the Pilgrims.
