Men's Basketball Stumbles Against Western New England, 78-60

Men's Basketball Stumbles Against Western New England, 78-60

MILTON, Mass. – The Curry College men's basketball team dropped a 78-60 final to Western New England University in conference action on Thursday night.

The Golden Bears had four players score in double figures led by EJ Day (Norwalk, Conn.), who netted a game-high 18 points to go along with six rebounds, one assist and three steals. Zach Tavitian (Milford, Conn.) added 16 points and seven rebounds. Cole Eiber (Albertson, N.Y.) (13) and Mikey Pettway (Bridgeport, Conn.) (12) also scored in double figures for the Western New England, who improved to 10-12 overall and 6-9 in league play.

Leading Curry (1-21 overall, 1-14 CCC) was Akhari Goodridge (Cambridge, Mass.) with 13 points and four rebounds. Jared Thorpe-Johnson was 4-for-14 from the field and finished with 10 points. RJ Hadfield (Warwick, R.I.) had eight points to lead the scorers off the bench.

The Golden Bears jumped out to an early six-point lead as Tavitian converted a layup to make the score 12-6 with 15:19 left in the first.

With 7:25 left to play in the opening period, Curry was able to grab the lead and stretch it to 21-16 on a jumper by Justin Kelley (Medford, Mass.).  After Western New England pulled to within three with 2:43 left in in the half, Mike McGuire (Garden City, N.Y.) drew a foul on a three-point shot and converted all three attempts at the line to time the game at 25. The Golden Bears reclaimed the lead on a layup by Day in the waning seconds of the half and would enter the break with a 30-27 advantage. Western New England was able to extend the lead in the second half with as many as a 24 point lead and kept the margin at double digits for the rest of the game.

The Golden Bears shot a 38.8 percent (26-for-67) from the floor and went 6-for-26 from beyond the arc. Curry shot 19-for-62 (30.6 percent) from the field and 20 percent (4-for-20) from three.

Curry will open a mini two-game road trip on Saturday, February 10 when they travel to Roger Williams University for a 3:00 tip. Western New England returns home to host Nichols on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.