Nighthawks Drop Close One to Pilgrims

HENNIKER, N.H. – The Newbury College men’s basketball team dropped to 0-5 after a tough one-point, 67-66, loss to New England College, who is off to their best start in program history at 5-0, Tuesday evening.

Newbury grabbed the early six point lead, jumping out in front 6-0 to being the contest but NEC stormed back. There were seven lead changes and six times did the teams knot up the score throughout the opening half in the see-saw contest before the Pilgrims took the 32-31 lead at the break.

Early in the second, NEC opened the flood gates taking their largest lead of the evening going up 42-3. The Nighthawks answered, tying up the contest a 45 mid-way through the period and soon after took their first lead of the half, 47-45.

With under two minutes left in regulation, Newbury held a slim two-point advantage when NEC’s Adbirahman Mohamed (Biddeford, Maine) drained a jumper from beyond the arc then netted two free-throws to re-gain the lead for the Pilgrims. The Nighthawks still had the opportunity for one last shot. As time expired, Torres threw up a jumper that caught the edge of the rim, bouncing out to give NEC their fifth win of the season.

NEC’s Joe Faragher (N. Ridgeville, Ohio) recorded 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, while Shane Hennessey (Plymouth, England) led all NEC scorers with 13 points.  Andrew MacDonald (Hanson, Mass.) added in 12 points while Mohamed rounded out the Pilgrim in double-figures finishing with 10 points.

Sophomore guard Chris Torres led Newbury with a game-high 19 points in the loss. Fellow sophomore forward Peterson Bernard (Boston, Mass.) followed up Torres registering a double-double, tallying 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Sophomore Tim Young (Brockton, Mass.) and freshman Eric Watson (New Rochelle, N.Y.) chipped in 11 points for the Nighthawks.

Newbury returns to the court on Thursday, Dec. 2^nd when they travel to Cambridge, Mass. to tip-off against non-conference foe MIT.

- Story provided by: Renee Hellert, Sports Information Director - New England College

- Game photo by: Samantha Yanofsky