WENHAM, Mass. (January 17, 2024) – The Western New England men's basketball team saw five of their own, including three starters, score in double figures in Wednesday evening's blowout victory on the road in Commonwealth Coast Conference action at Gordon College, on their way to defeating the Fighting Scots by a final score of 85-59.

Records:

• Western New England: 12-4, 7-1 CCC
• Gordon College: 3-13, 1-7 CCC

How it Happened:

Western New England could not come up with the first bucket of the game in this CCC contest; rather, the hosting Fighting Scots dropped home a layup on their second offensive possession of the game to get the ball rolling. Tim Restall cashed in on the next opportunity for Western New England to get the Golden Bears on the scoreboard. Restall recorded the opening six points for the Golden Bears. Gordon and Western New England would go bucket for bucket until an 8-0 run by WNE would send the Golden Bears to a seven-point lead after five points from Matt Houde and three made free throws by Brian Geitner. Geitner would eventually give Western New England their first double-digit lead of the game after knocking down a triple, giving the Golden Bears a 22-10 lead with 10:48 to play in the first half. From there, Western New England sophomore Cody Palazzesi would heat up, scoring four straight points to extend the Golden Bears lead after the Fighting Scots attempted to get back into the game. Gordon dropped WNE's lead to six with six minutes remaining in the half, though Tim Restall would capitalize from the free throw line three times to extend WNE's lead again. With 2:10 remaining, Gordon would make things interesting when Micha Steely laced up a triple to shrink Western New England's lead to just one point, 34-33. The Golden Bears would end the first half on an important 6-0 run when Matt Houde scored a jumper, while Brian Geitner would collect the final four points of the half to give the Golden Bears a 40-33 lead. WNE shot 41% from the field in the opening frame, converting on four three balls. Brian Geitner led the way with ten points. Gordon hit 56% of their shots in the opening 20 minutes of play, though they trailed by seven at the half.

WNE opened the half with four quick points after Tim Restall converted on the opening possession of the game, which was then followed by a steal by junior Jake Harrison, which led to a layup on the fastbreak to give WNE a quick 11-point lead. The double-digit lead for Western New England stayed for the remainder of the game after Gavin Green converted on a layup with 18:29 to play in the second half to give the Golden Bears a 46-36 lead. Western New England would continue to take it to the Fighting Scots, with Tim Restall leading the way with eight second-half points. The Golden Bears would see Restall give the Golden Bears their largest lead of the night at 20 points with 11:29 to play. Matt Houde would launch a three-ball with 6:02 to play that would connect to put the blue and gold ahead by 23, while Max Jones would match that three with one of his own with 5:27 remaining to continue to extend WNE's lead, as the Golden Bears would lead by 26. WNE would lead by 29 points twice before Gordon would end the game on a 6-2 run to cut Western New England's lead to 26 to end the game as the Golden Bears would avenge last season's regular season finale defeat at the hands of Gordon to take down the Fighting Scots by a final score of 85-59. WNE was 50% from the field, making four threes while grabbing 26 second half rebounds.

Inside the Lines:

• Tim Restall (17 points), Matt Houde (14 points), Brian Getiner (13 points), Cody Palazzesi (11 points), and Jake Harrison (10 points) all helped the WNE offense cruise to a mid-week victory.
• Brian Geitner continues to shoot lights out for Western New England, shooting 3/3 from the field, including 2/2 from deep in Wednesday's win. Geitner is 10/11 in his last three games from three-point land while scoring 13 of 15 field goals overall.
• WNE shot 46% from the field on the night while cashing in eight threes.
• WNE outrebounded Gordon 41-32. The Fighting Scots turned the ball over 20 times, while Western New England came away with 16 steals.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• The Golden Bears return to action on Saturday, January 20 at 3:00 pm when they travel to the University of New England, who are looking for their first CCC win of the season.