Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--The Western New England University men's basketball team received a game-high 18 points from junior Musa Elsir, and a double-double of 11 points and game-best 12 rebounds by senior Dennis Rinaldi, but it wasn't enough for the hosts to defeat the Wentworth Institute of Technology in a 60-56 Commonwealth Coast Conference loss at the Alumni Healthful and Living Center field house on Wednesday. Western New England
 
The Wentworth Leopards (8-6 overall, 5-2 CCC) took an early first half lead on the hot-shooting of reserve Ronnie Turner, who scored 9 of his team-high 18 points on 3-pointers in the first half. He finished 6-of-7 from the field, including a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range. Freshman Jherson Colon added 15 points and contributed to the strong defense shown by the Leopards.

Seniors Ryan Mickiewicz added 10 points and Nick DeFeo had nine points with five assists and two steals for the Golden Bears, who shot 44.2 percent from the field (23-52) and committed only 10 turnovers.

The game was mostly one-sided through the first half as Wentworth built an 18-point lead (35-17) at halftime, which ended with a trey at the buzzer from Ray Bessette. In the opening 20 minutes, the Leopards made 13 of 25 field goals for 52.0 percent compared to 8-of-23 for 34.8 for WNE

But in the second half, the Golden Bears made a push to get back in the game in a hurry by causing turnovers and pulling down big rebounds. The Golden Bears changed up their offensive attack by getting the ball down low, which resulted in 20 points in the paint. Elsir and Mickiewicz scored 10 and eight points, respectively, to key a 25-12 WNE run--highlighted by a two-handed slam by sophomore Zack Askew (6 points)--over a 10-minute span to close within 47-42.

Wentworth was able to increase the lead to 51-42 at the 7:17 mark on consecutive baskets by Cam Sennick for his only points of the contest.

Western New England, however, didn't quit and was able to put together another surge to make it 51-50 after a pair of Rinaldi free throws with 2 minutes and 21 seconds remaining. DeFeo, Askew and Mickiewicz all scored on lay-ups as part of the 8-0 run.

On Wentworth's following possession, Colon drained a trey from the wing to make it 54-50 with 2:01 to go. The teams traded points the rest of the way and Colon iced the victory with two free throws with 4 seconds left after Elsir converted a lay-in just 2 seconds earlier to make the score 58-56.

The game was decided on the perimeter as Wentworth made 10 3-pointers to four by WNE. The Golden Bears made two more (23) field goals than the Leopards (21).

The glass favored WNE as the Golden Bears had 32 rebounds to 24 for Wentworth. Elsir contributed six boards for the home team. JohnMichael Fragnoli led the Leopards with five.
 
The Golden Bears will be traveling to Endicott Saturday for another CCC match-up in their next contest.