BOSTON, Mass. – Despite trailing 15-2 in the first 4:39 of the contest, the University of New England (12-8, 6-2 The Commonwealth Coast Conference) men’s basketball team defeated Wentworth, 72-62 (12-8, 6-2), in a TCCC contest played at Tansey Gym. The Nor’Easters’ win over the Leopards snapped a five-game series losing streak to the defending TCCC champions.
Senior guard Sherrad Prezzie-Blue (Norwalk, Conn.) set the tone early, scoring eight of Wentworth’s first 15 points, while junior guard Brad Bryant (Livermore, Maine) chipped in with three of his own and junior guard Todd Doyle (Mystic, Conn.) had two points and a pair of assists.
Down by 13 with 15:21 left in the opening stanza, the Nor’Easters mounted a comeback, using a 12-0 run over the next four minutes to trail by just one at 15-14. Junior guard Jaykiri Simpson (East Cleburne, Texas) had a three pointer, a blocked shot, and an assist during the stretch, and senior forward Isaac Stickney (Rumford, Maine) added four points of his own.
Sophomore forward Matt Abbott (Falmouth, Mass.) countered with a pair of free throws and then followed up with a layup off of a turnover to give the hosts a five-point lead. However, a pair of Stickney free throws 1:35 apart cut the lead to three and a three pointer by freshman guard Chas Rentrope (Peoria, Ariz.) knotted the game at 19-all. Stickney would then follow with a layup and junior guard Johnnie Jefferson (Dallas, Texas) buried a trifecta to give UNE a five-point lead.
Prezzie-Blue would hit one of two free throws to cut the lead to four and junior forward Pat LaCasse (Rochester, N.H.) hit a layup, cutting the lead in half. After a UNE turnover, Prezzie-Blue buried a three point and put Wentworth on top, 25-24, with 3:47 left. That would be Wentworth’s last lead of the night, as Simpson scored the next four points to put the Nor’Easters up by three.
Leading 28-27 with just under 2:30 left in the half, UNE would close out the half on a 10-2 run with Simpson scoring five of the 10 points and led by nine (38-29) at the break.
The Nor’Easters opened the second half by scoring the first nine points and opened its largest lead of the evening (18) with 18:21 remaining. The Leopards would trim the lead to 14 on two separate occasions, but each time the visitors had a quick response and built the lead back up.
Facing an 18-point deficit and just under 5:00 remaining, Wentworth began to make a run at UNE, using a 9-1 run—with six points coming off Prezzie-Blue three pointers—to cut the lead to 65-55 with 2:11 left. The Nor’Easters again had an answer as Simpson converted a fast break layup and Stickney would hit a free throw to bring the lead back to 13. Bryant would then hit a jumper that cut the lead down to 11, and, trailing by a dozen, Prezzie-Blue hit his sixth three-ball of the night to make it a nine-point game with 40 seconds left. However, that would be as close as the Leopards would get, eventually losing by 10.
Simpson was 10-for-21 from the floor for a team-high 24 points. Jefferson added 18 on 6-for-12 shooting, while Stickney chipped in with 13 points, nine of which came from the charity stripe. Prezzie-Blue led all scorers with 29 points, as he was 10-for-19 from the floor, including 6-for-11 from three-point land. Abbott added nine points and five rebounds in a losing effort. Seventy-one of UNE’s 72 points came from its starters.
The win was the first for the Nor’Easters over the Leopards since a 74-67 win in Biddeford, Maine, on Jan. 27, 2005, and also avenges a 54-51 setback to the Leopards in a non-league contest played earlier this year. UNE, winners of six of its last seven contests, is at Roger Williams on Saturday. Wentworth, which sees its two-game win streak snapped, is at Anna Maria Saturday. Both games commence at 3:00 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score Univ. of New England vs Wentworth 02/06/08 7:30 p.m. at Boston, Mass. (Tansey Gymnasium) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VISITORS: Univ. of New England 12-8, 6-2 TCCC TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 24 Johnnie Jefferson... f 6-12 3-5 3-4 2 3 5 4 18 0 5 1 3 29 25 Isaac Stickney...... f 2-2 0-0 9-16 0 5 5 4 13 0 2 0 2 34 00 Jaykyri Simpson..... g 10-21 1-2 3-5 0 3 3 4 24 2 1 2 1 35 04 Steve Belmonte...... g 3-7 1-1 1-2 3 1 4 0 8 2 3 0 4 40 15 Chas Rentrope....... g 2-5 1-2 3-5 1 2 3 4 8 2 6 0 4 23 03 Matt VanDeusen...... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 5 12 Franco Foti......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 2 0 0 1 20 23 Ian Imbert.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 55 Ben Ingerson........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 10 TEAM................ 3 2 5 Totals.............. 23-48 6-10 20-34 9 19 28 20 72 9 18 4 15 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-22 54.5% 2nd Half: 11-26 42.3% Game: 47.9% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 2-3 66.7% Game: 60.0% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 10-14 71.4% 2nd Half: 10-20 50.0% Game: 58.8% 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOME TEAM: Wentworth 10-8, 4-4 TCCC TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS ## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN 42 Weonard Bynes....... f 2-6 0-0 2-2 2 3 5 3 6 1 3 0 2 27 44 Sherrad Prezzie-Blue f 10-19 6-11 3-4 1 2 3 3 29 0 6 0 2 38 52 Shane West.......... f 1-1 0-0 0-3 3 1 4 3 2 3 2 0 0 23 12 Ed Bolton........... g 0-4 0-0 0-2 2 0 2 5 0 1 3 1 1 16 20 Brad Bryant......... g 2-6 1-5 0-0 0 5 5 5 5 4 3 0 0 29 11 Kevin Wentworth..... 1-5 0-2 1-2 0 2 2 3 3 1 2 0 0 18 14 Todd Doyle.......... 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 2 4 1 2 2 3 0 0 19 23 Matt Abbott......... 2-4 0-0 5-8 2 3 5 1 9 2 4 0 1 18 24 Gil Ward............ 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 6 30 Keenan Burke-Pitts.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+ 32 Pat LaCasse......... 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 4 2 1 0 0 6 TEAM................ 2 2 4 Totals.............. 22-52 7-19 11-21 16 22 38 26 62 16 28 1 6 200 TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-23 43.5% 2nd Half: 12-29 41.4% Game: 42.3% DEADB 3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-9 44.4% 2nd Half: 3-10 30.0% Game: 36.8% REBS F Throw % 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 6-13 46.2% Game: 52.4% 5,1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Officials: Joe Rogers, Steve Cassel, Dave Engleson Technical fouls: Univ. of New England-None. Wentworth-None. Attendance: 142 Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total Univ. of New England.......... 38 34 - 72 Wentworth..................... 29 33 - 62 Points in the paint-UNE 30,WIT 26. Points off turnovers-UNE 25,WIT 21. 2nd chance points-UNE 9,WIT 13. Fast break points-UNE 17,WIT 9. Bench points-UNE 1,WIT 20. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-3 times. Last FG-UNE 2nd-02:00, WIT 2nd-00:08. Largest lead-UNE by 18 2nd-18:21, WIT by 13 1st-15:21.