HENNIKER, N.H. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology men's basketball team would hold off a late Pilgrim surge and eventually capture the 71-58 victory over New England College Saturday afternoon in the regular-season finale for both clubs. The win was Wentworth's fifth straight, matching a season-high.
The two teams would battle evenly through the opening five minutes before Wentworth would use a 9-1 run to jump out to a 15-7 lead midway through the half. The Leopards would extend their lead to 20 with 3:09 remaining, shooting an impressive 48% from the field and holding the Pilgrims to just 21% shooting in the opening half. NEC would show life late closing out the half outscoring Wentworth 7-4 and head into halftime trailing 34-17.
NEC would open the second half with seven straight points cutting the Wentworth lead to 34-23 at the 17:43 mark. The Pilgrim offense would continue to show life as they would use an 11-0 run midway through cutting the lead to just four trailing 38-34. Wentworth would respond quickly rebuilding their lead to 19 up 57-38 with 4:03 remaining.
NEC would get 12 points from senior Shane Hennessey in the final two minutes as he would surpass the 1,000th points mark finishing his career with 1,001 points. Wentworth would close out the final minute an impressive 11-for-12 from the foul line eventually cruising to the 71-58 victory.
Leading the way for Wentworth was Sam Herrick (Duxbury, Mass.) who finished with 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, including his 257th rebound of the season in the early stages. That rebound established a new single-season Leopard record, as he now has 269. Wentworth's Keenan Burke-Pitts (Auburn, Mass.) finished with 16 points and dished out five assists, while Adam Dombrowski (Dunstable, Mass.) chipped in 14 points for the Leopards.
NEC's Shane Hennessey finished with a double-double scoring 19 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Troy Prather (Claremont, Calif.) chipped in eight points and Abdirahman Mohamed (Biddeford, Maine) finished with seven points.
With the win the Leopards finish the regular season 16-9 overall and 10-3 in the TCCC. Wentworth has earned the number two seed heading into the TCCC Playoffs and will host an opening round game on Tuesday, Feb. 22 against Colby-Sawyer. The Leopards beat the Chargers this past Wednesday night, 74-60. With the loss the Pilgrims finish the season 17-8 overall and 6-7 in conference play.
-Story Courtesy of New England College Sports Information-
