Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Seniors Dennis Rinaldi and Nick DeFeo each recorded a double-double to lead Western New England to a 73-60 non-conference men's basketball victory over Clark in the Golden Bears' home opener at the Alumni Healthful Living Center field house on Saturday. Western New England improves to 2-3 on the season while the Cougars (4-1) fell for the first time.

Rinaldi pumped in a game-high 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and DeFeo notched his first career double-double with 16 and 11. Kevin Wilkes added 13 points and six rebounds off the WNE bench.

Reserve Conor Dow and starter Nicholas DaPrato paced the Cougars with 13 and 11 points. Marcus Armstrong came off the bench for a team-leading 10 rebounds, but the Cougars weren't able to match the Golden Bears on the glass who held a 38-30 edge.

Western New England shot season's best 52.1 percent from the field (25-48) while limiting Clark to a 38.1 clip (24-63). Rinaldi led the Golden Bears' strong presence in the paint, making 9 of 12 field goal attempts. The Golden Bears held a 38-22 scoring advantage underneath the basket.

Senior Ryan Mickiewicz had an excellent game controlling the tempo for the Golden Bears by dishing eight assists against only three turnovers, making four steals, scoring five points and getting four rebounds.

The Cougars held a 44-40 lead with 12 minutes left to play following a conventional three-point play by Andrew Musler (8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals), but the Golden Bears responded with a 13-2 run over the next five minutes to take a five point lead at 53-48. A Rinaldi three-point play at the 9:24 mark broke a tie at 44-all and never trailed the rest of the way.

Clark got as close as three a few minutes later when Josh St. Fort (Milton, Mass.) found Musler for an easy hoop, but the hosts responded again, rattling off an 11-2 spurt that featured six free throws from DeFeo (10-for-10 from the free throw line).

Western New England will take a Thanksgiving break after playing its fifth road game already on Tuesday (7 p.m.) at Westfield State out of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference.