QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team captured an 86-64 victory over Curry College on Saturday afternoon at the Lahue Physical Education Center.

The Lions improve to 6-7 on the year and 3-3 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference. The Colonels slide to 1-12 overall and 0-6 in league competition.

Rookie Josh Rice (Hanson, Mass.) poured in a game-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the home side. Christian Lynch (Alpharetta, Ga.) finished with 15 points and four steals. Corey Doran (Fairfield, Calif.) posted 13 points while David Eddings (Endicott, N.Y.) chipped in with nine points, five boards, four assists, and three steals.

Eastern Nazarene tallied the first nine points of the contest to establish a 9-0 lead with 15:15 remaining in the first half.

Curry cut the deficit to 14-12 with 11:42 left to play as Jared Thorpe-Johnson (Dorchester, Mass.) drained a three-pointer.

The Lions widened the gap to 11 on a pair of free throws by Lynch with 5:50 to go in the opening half.

The hosts extended their advantage to 19 with 1:28 remaining in the half as Rice splashed one of his four treys of the first frame.

Eastern Nazarene boasted a 43-25 lead at halftime after shooting 48.6% from the field. The Colonels mustered a field-goal percentage of 34.5% through 20 minutes of action.

The Lions pushed their lead to 21 points as Lynch tossed in a layup with 16:15 left to play in regulation, 51-30.

Curry trimmed the margin to 64-52 with 8:36 to go in the second stanza on a deep three-pointer by Luke Schreiner (Breezy Point, N.Y).

The home team reclaimed a 20-point edge as Anthony Petrilli (Santa Clarita, Calif.) capped off a three-point play at the charity stripe with 6:23 on the clock, 72-52.

The Lions shot 53.1% from the floor and 36.8% from beyond the arc. The Colonels finished with a field-goal percentage of 41.0% to go with 36.7% shooting from the perimeter.

Thorpe-Johnson paced Curry with 20 points while Schreiner chalked up 18 points.

Looking ahead, Eastern Nazarene will battle league-leader Nichols January 11 on the road. Curry will return home Wednesday to host Wentworth at 7:30 p.m.

(Game Recap Courtesy of Eastern Nazarene Sports Information)