BOSTON, Mass. - The Western New England College men's basketball team suffered a narrow 53-51 loss at Emerson Thursday night (Jan. 18) in a battle of two of the top teams in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC).

Junior guard Ryan Hernandez (Hampton Bays, NY) led the Golden Bears with 13 points while sophomore guard Matt Maynard (Paterson, NJ) had 12 points.

Junior forward Jim Bayne (Bristol, CT) added nine points and 10 rebounds.

Western New England College trailed by one (25-24) at the break, but started the second half with an 11-0 run.

The Lions rallied and took a four-point lead at 52-48 with 1:27 remaining in the contest. Hernandez connected on a  three-pointer with 1:20 left before freshman Jeremy Shannon (12 points) made one of two free throws for the Lions with three seconds on the clock to complete the scoring.

This was the second close defeat in four days for the Golden Bears who dropped a 64-60 decision at Rivier on Monday.

Western New England College, which came into contest in first place in the conference, falls to 8-7 overall and 5-2 in the GNAC.

Emerson improves its record to 8-5 and takes over the top spot in the league with a  4-1 mark.