MILTON, Mass. - Visiting Western New England outlasted Curry College, 71-61, in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) opener for both teams Wednesday night in Milton. The Golden Bears improved 3-4 on the season and 1-0 in CCC play, while the Colonels fell to 2-4 and 0-1 in conference action.

Both teams spent most of the first half trading baskets, with neither team pulling ahead by more than 6 points. The Golden Bears started out the back-and-forth affair with a made jump shot by senior Musa Elsir (Springfield, Mass.) with 17:57 on the clock. With the score 34-31, Colonels' junior Tim Flanagan (Providence, R.I.) converted a layup with eight seconds remaining on the clock, sending his team into the break with a one-point deficit.

From the start of the second half, the visitors maintained control of the game, briefly losing their lead by a single point (37-36) at 17:51 off of a good jump shot by senior Matt Russell (South Portland, Maine). The Golden Bears took their biggest lead of the half (63-53) with 6:26 left in the game on a three-pointer by sophomore Mike Gelineau (Waltham, Mass.), then matched it with the 71-61 final.

The Golden Bears were led by Gelineau with a team high 18 points. Junior Zack Askew (Middletown, Conn.) recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Graduate Nick DeFeo (Southington, Conn.) and junior Gerald McDonald (Boca Raton, Fla.) chipped in with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Senior Antonio Jones (Dorchester, Mass.) led Curry with 18 points. Russell followed closely behind scoring 17 and grabbing seven rebounds. Sophomore James Pina (Warwick, R.I.) pulled down 10 boards.

Both teams return to CCC action on Saturday at 3 p.m. as the Colonels travel to Eastern Nazarene and WNE hosts Roger Williams.