Men's Basketball Pulls Away from Maine-Augusta; Evens Record at 4-4

WORCESTER, Mass. – Senior Trey Carrier (Wilton, N.H.) connected on 10-of-21 shots, scoring 27 points and recorded a double-double with 14 rebounds as the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's basketball team defeated the University of Maine at Augusta, 73-55, in opening round action of the 2021 Clark University Alumni Holiday Invitational.

The win was the second straight for the Leopards, who evened their record at 4-4 on the season while the Moose dipped to 3-11.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

LEADING SCORERS:  Trey Carrier, 27; Kevin Fernandez, 15
LEADING REBOUNDERS:  Thomas Hacker, 14; Carrier, 14
ASSIST LEADERS:  Conor Rubenskas, 4; Fernandez, 4; Kyle Henseler, 4; Tyler Lennon, 4

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Wentworth found itself down early, going the first 4:50 without scoring a point. During that span, Augusta scored nine, which included five from senior Jalaughn Jackson (Denver, Colo.) and four from senior Israel Brown (Ridgewood, N.J.). The Leopards finally broke the ice on a dunk from Carrier, which ignited a 19-4 run and was capped off when Carrier put home a second-chance opportunity off a senior Kevin Fernandez (Lawrence, Mass.) missed three pointer.
• Fernandez and junior Thomas Hacker (Averill Park, N.Y.) each buried threes, sandwiched around a bucket by Brown, giving the Black & Gold a 25-17 advantage with 7:25 left in the opening frame. Nealy two minutes went by before either team scored a basket and Hacker broke that drought with a layup, upping the lead to 27-17.
• Wentworth held the Moose to just four points over the final 7:44 of the first half, allowing only a layup from Brown and a jumper from freshman Trevor Beals (Lyman, Maine). During a two-minute stretch late, Carrier hit a pair of shots from behind the arc, giving him 12 points in the first half. The Moose were held to 31 percent shooting from the floor as the Leopards took a 36-21 lead at the break.
• Fernandez and senior Kyle Henseler (Coventry, R.I.) opened the second half with a three and a layup, respectively, pushing the lead to 20 (41-21) before Beals ended a lengthy Augusta drought with a jumper 3:24 into the second half.
• Carrier hit a three with 10:57 left, giving Wentworth a 56-36 lead, however, the Moose countered with a 10-2 run and cut the lead to 12 (58-46) after Beals hit a three with 7:16 to play. Fernandez ended the run with a jumper and Carrier followed with a basket of his own to push the lead back to 16 (62-46) with 6:10 left. Augusta countered with a three from Beals and a dunk from senior Eric Crawford (South Seattle, Wash.) pulling the Moose to within 11 with just under five minutes left, and, with 4:28 remaining, sophomore Jovan Sisovic (Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia) made a layup which cut the lead to nine.
• On the next possession, Carrier made a layup, igniting an 11-0 run which gave the Black & Gold a 73-53 lead with 94 seconds left, sealing the win for Wentworth.
• In addition to Carrier's 27 points, Fernandez added 15 while Hacker had a share of the game-high rebounding total with a career-best 14. Hacker and freshman Tyler Stewart (East Taunton, Mass.) each had nine points. Wentworth had a commanding, 51-31 advantage on the boards.
• Brown (17) and Beals (14) led Augusta in scoring.

SERIES NOTES:

• Today was the first-ever meeting between the two teams.

NEXT UP:

• Wentworth plays host Clark tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m.

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