Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Massâ€"Five Golden Bears were in double figures led by Nick DeFeo who scored a game-high 21 points as the Western New England men's basketball team defeated the fourth-place Salve Regina Seahawks, 76-70, in a Commonwealth Coast Conference game at the Alumni Healthful Living Center field house on Wednesday. The Golden Bears improve their record to 7-16 on the season (5-12 CCC) while the Seahawks fall to 15-9 (10-7 CCC).

In addition to sweeping Salve in the regular season (WNE won 63-58 on Jan. 23 in Newport, R.I.), Western New England clinched the eighth and final berth to the CCC Championship Tournament with the win. The Golden Bears would prevail in a second-tier tiebreaker with Curry since WNE split with second-place Eastern Nazarene while the Colonels lost twice to the Lions.
 
The Seahawks opened up in a press that the Golden Bears easily broke with good passing and dribble penetration. They started the game on a 9-2 run behind seven points from Jeff Bielefeld, but the Golden Bears cut the deficit and eventually finished the first half with a 31-27 lead. DeFeo drilled a 3-pointer to give the Golden Bears their biggest lead of the night at 29-18 with 4 minutes and 45 seconds to go.
 
Senior Kevin Wilkes scored 16 points on 5-of-9 from the floor and grabbed five rebounds in 21 minutes of action before leaving late in the game after colliding heads with DeFeo. Senior Ryan Mickiewicz (2 steals) added 11 points and was perfect from the free throw line going 6-for-6, while dishing four assists. Sophomore Zack Askew (11 rebounds) and senior Dennis Rinaldi (9 rebounds) both chipped in 10 points to help the Golden Bears' offensive push.

Barrett Hanlon paced Salve with 19 points, followed by Bielefeld with 15, Joshua Hohlfelder had 13 and Nicholas Bates, 10. Hanlon and Bielefeld pulled down nine rebounds apiece as the Seahawks outrebounded WNE 44 to 40.
 
The Golden Bears' offense was ignited in the second half when Mickiewicz stole the ball and threw an alley-oop pass to Askew, who finished it with a two-handed dunk for a 56-50 lead with 7 minutes remaining. Askew also delivered highlight-reel slam earlier in the period when he drove the baseline from the right corner and put it down with his right hand.

Western New England, which never trailed in the second half, went ahead for good on a pair of Mickiewicz free throws, 52-50, with 9:46 left.

The Golden Bears collectively shot a season's best 85.7 percent from the charity stripe on 30-of-35 attempts, while the Seahawks shot 10-for-19 resulting in a 52.6 clip.
 
Western New England's bench outscored the Seahawks' reserves 18-7. But Salve had a strong presence in the paint, 48-28.
 
Salve Regina shot 43.1 percent from field goal range on 28-of-65, while the Golden Bears were 21-for-61 totaling 34.4 percent.
 
Western New England will face Endicott to finish the regular season in a CCC matchup on Saturday at home on Senior Day.