Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Senior Dennis Rinaldi and junior Musa Elsir scored 16 and 14 points, respectively, to lead the Western New England University men's basketball team, but host Springfield College came away with a 95-69 non-conference victory Tuesday at Blake Arena. The visiting Golden Bears fall to 0-3 while the Pride were playing in their season opener, capturing its fourth-straight win to open at home.

The Pride's Nick Sienkiewicz tied a career-high with 21 points, including 19 in the first half as he canned 5-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc. Robbie Burke added 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and Tim Swenson put forth a monster effort in the paint, registering career highs in both rebounds and blocks with 18 and 7.

Rinaldi also pulled down seven rebounds, while Elsir tacked on nine to go along with his season-high in scoring.

Sean Martin had five assists on the night as Springfield had excellent ball movement with 27 assists on 35 made buckets.

For the game, Springfield shot 35-for-68 (.556) and buried 13-of-20 3-pointers, including a remarkable 11-for-15 performance in the first 20 minutes of action.

The Golden Bears finished the night shooting 27-for-72 (.375) and connected on just five of 21 bids from long range.

The opening half started off back and forth as the lead changed seven times in the early going. After Sienkiewicz, Burke, and Simon Kilday all drained 3-pointers for the Pride to give the hosts a 9-5 cushion, WNE responded with a 15-6 push to take a 20-15 lead on an Elsir jumper at the 12:20 mark.

Rinaldi converted down low to knot things at 26 with 9:02 on the clock before Springfield ended the half on a 27-11 surge to go into the locker room with a 53-37 advantage. The Pride had five treys in the run, including a pair from Sienkiewicz. Springfield shot 57.1 percent (16-28) from the field while WNE shot for a respectable .471 field goal percentage (16-34) over the first 20 minutes.

But, the Pride did their damage on the inside in the second half, pouring in 28 points in the paint after tallying just eight in the first half. A Nick DeFeo lay-up brought the visitors within 16 with 16:45 to go, but that's as close as WNE would get the rest of the way.

Western New England returns to the court at 7 p.m. Thursday at Lyndon State College in a non-conference contest.

(Editor's note: The Springfield College Office of Sports Communications contributed to this game recap.)