Box Score BIDDLEFORD, Maine--Senior Nick DeFeo pumped in a career-high 22 points to lead all scorers for a balanced Western New England offense, but it wasn't enough as the Golden Bears suffered a 66-62 setback at the University of New England on Saturday in Commonwealth Coast Conference men's basketball action at the Harold Alfond Forum. Western New England falls to 2-6 overall and 0-2 in the CCC, while the Nor'easters won their first game of the season in seven outings and are now 1-1 in the conference.

DeFeo made 8 of 14 field goals, including six 3-pointers, to go along with six rebounds, two assists and two steals in having his best afternoon as a Golden Bear. Sophomore Zack Askew, junior Musa Elsir and senior Dennis Rinaldi also scored in double figures with 13, 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Golden Bears. Askew also pulled down a game-best 15 rebounds to complete his second double-double. Askew and Rinaldi also had three steals apiece.

Devin Thompson led three UNE scorers in double-figures with a season-high 21 points, followed by Joshua Butler with 13 and Justin Pollard, 10. Butler also had 13 rebounds for his double-double and Pollard contributed three steals.

After a back-and-forth second half that saw five lead changes and five ties, the Nor'easters moved in front for good with 3 minutes and 19 seconds left, 62-60, on a Butler lay-in.

Thompson buried a jumper from the left side with 38 seconds remaining to make the cushion four, but with 20 seconds on the clock, DeFeo brought it back within two at 64-62.

A UNE turnover gave WNE a look to tie with 10 ticks left, but the mid-range attempt did not fall. Pollard sank two free throws moments later to seal it for the Nor'easters.

Coming out of a 32-32 halftime break, the difference was no more than four points either way for the entire closing period.

The hosts held the edge for most of the opening frame. Following a long-distance connection by Elsir, Pollard tallied five points in the middle of a 12-2 spurt that left UNE with its largest lead of 11, 26-15, in the latter stages of the half.

But WNE responded with a 15-2 run of its own to momentarily take the lead inside the final minute of the stanza. A pair of triples from DeFeo capped the stretch before Butler made two at the charity stripe for UNE to tie it after 20 minutes.

Big Blue has three weeks off before heading to Williamsport, Pa. for a two-day tournament beginning on Monday, Dec. 30, and the Golden Bears get back to action on Thursday, Jan. 2 with a non-conference home game versus Western Connecticut State.

(Editor's note: University of New England Sports Information contributed to this game recap.)