Nor’easters Hold Off Golden Bears, 64-59

Agrait & Gelineau lead Western New England with 12 points each

BIDDEFORD, Maine (January 3, 2017) – The Western New England University men's basketball team was unable to overcome a 14-0 second half run in a 64-59 setback to the University of New England this evening in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Harold Alfond Forum.

Top Performers
• Graduate guard Luis Agrait (South Hadley, Mass.) was among three Golden Bears to score in double-figures with 12 points to go with four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
• Seniors Mike Gelineau (Waltham, Mass.) and Daniel Silva (Seekonk, Mass.) added 12 and ten points, respectively, while freshman Mike McCourt (Lincoln, R.I.) chipped in with eight points and a team-high seven rebounds off the bench.

• UNE junior guard Drew Coveney (Londonderry, N.H.) led all players with a game-high 16 points to go with eight rebounds, four steals and three assists.
• Senior guard Jean-Luc Parker (Georgetown, Tex.) finished with 15 points, while senior center Sam Thomas (Bedford, N.H.) posted the game's only double-double with ten points, ten rebounds and three blocks.

Game Review
• The Nor'easters led by seven (16-9) after a layup by junior Gavin Dibble (Greenport, N.Y.) midway through the first half capped a 6-0 UNE run.
• Agrait and Gelineau combined to score Western New England's next 15 points as the Golden Bears cut their deficit to one (25-24) with just over a minute remaining in the half. A layup by freshman guard Nick DeGennaro (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) as time expired gave Western New England a 26-25 edge heading into the break.
• The Golden Bears extended their lead to six (31-25) with a 5-0 run to start the second half as Silva connected from beyond the arc and sophomore Tyler Johnson (Vernon, Conn.) followed with a layup.
• Trailing 33-28 after a Silva jumper with 17:54 on the clock, the Nor'easters put together a 14-0 run over the next 3:23 to claim a 42-33 advantage.
• McCourt ended the run with a jumper at the 14:20 mark, the first of seven straight points for the freshman as Western New England cut its deficit to four (44-40) with 13:09 remaining.
• The Golden Bears were unable to pull closer than three until Agrait's triple with 4:09 to go made it a two-point game (56-54).
• Luc-Parker completed a traditional three-point play to extend UNE's lead back to five (59-54) with 3:03 left in the contest. Western New England would get no closer, as the Nor'easters went on to win by the same margin.  

Notes
• The Golden Bears shot 33.8% from the field and 22.9% from beyond the arc, while the Nor'easters connected at a 39.3% clip overall and 24% mark from three-point range.
• Western New England turned the ball over just 11 times and scored 20 points off 17 UNE turnovers.
• McCourt scored all eight of his points in the second half.

Up Next
Western New England (1-9, 0-4 CCC) will be back in action on Thursday at Wentworth, while UNE (4-7, 2-2 CCC) travels to Bristol, R.I. to take on Roger Williams.