Western New England Defeats MCLA in Ken Wright Invitational Opener, 78-60

McGuire, Pettway & Eiber all score in double figures for Golden Bears

AMHERST, Mass. (November 17, 2017) – The Western New England University men's basketball team established a 38-21 halftime lead on its way to a 78-60 victory over the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) on Friday evening in the opening round of the Ken Wright Invitational at Amherst College's LeFrak Gymnasum. 

Western New England (1-1) will take on Amherst College in the championship contest on Saturday at 3 p.m., after MCLA (0-1) faces Sarah Lawrence in the consolation game at 1 p.m.

Top Performers
• Sophomore guard Mike McGuire (Garden City, N.Y.) led three Golden Bears in double figures with a team-high 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three-point range.
• Junior guard Mikey Pettway (Bridgeport, Conn.) shot 6-of-8 from the field and 3-of-3 from the charity stripe on his way to 15 points to go with game-highs in both rebounds (nine) and assists (six).
• Sophomore guard Cole Eiber (Albertson, N.Y.) finished with 13 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.

• MCLA freshman forward Mike Demartinis (Burlington, Mass.) paced the Trailblazers with a game-high 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting off the bench.
• Sophomores Ki-Shawn Monroe (Springfield, Mass.) and Antoine Montgomery (Boston, Mass.) both posted double-figure scoring efforts with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Game Review
• Western New England raced out to a 10-0 lead and held a 16-2 advantage following a Tim Reilly (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) three-pointer 4:32 into the contest.
• MCLA began to chip away at its deficit, as the Trailblazers pulled to within three (20-17) on a jumper by Demartinis with just under six minutes remaining in the half, but the Golden Bears closed out the period with an 18-4 run to claim a 38-21 lead at the break.
• Western New England, which never let its lead fall below 12 in the second half, extended its advantage to 22 (53-31) on a three-pointer by freshman EJ Day (Norwalk, Conn.) at the 13:42 mark. The Golden Bears led by as much as 26 (70-44) following a jumper by Eiber with 4:55 remaining, before going on to win by 18.  

Notes
• Western New England shot 50.8-percent (31-of-61) from the field and outrebounded MCLA 50-34.
• The Golden Bears limited the Trailblazers to 31.6-percent (24-of-76) shooting, including 17.6-percent (6-of-34) from three-point range.
• Freshman forward Zach Tavitian (Milford, Conn.) finished with nine points, six rebounds and three blocks in 17 minutes of action.