SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (November 25, 2025) – The Western New England men's basketball team picked up a 72-57 victory on Tuesday night over the Lancers of Worcester State University, leaning on first-year Avery Mickens for a trio of timely triples that led to the Golden Bears outscoring WSU 41-25 in the second half to earn the victory.  

Records:

• Western New England: 6-0
• Worcester State University: 1-4

• Zein Wahdan opened the scoring for the Golden Bears, while Eddie McCoy was in the paint for a deuce to which started the scoring for the Golden Bears in the game. The back-and-forth opening five minutes saw neither team gain any ground on one another, with the score tied at ten with 14:37 remaining. The Golden Bears were hit with the turnover bug early in the game, picking up nine turnovers in the first 14 minutes of action as the WSU defense stayed strong on the Golden Bears. 
• Following a WNE timeout with 13:09 remaining in the half, the Lancers ran off to a 9-2 run that gave the visitors a 19-12 lead. A pair of triples, one from Frantz Pierre Jr. and another from Avery Mickens, got the Golden Bears back within one at the midway mark of the half. WNE built on that when Travis Mangual and Nate Kasper got to the rim to score, giving Western New England a three-point lead, 22-19.
• Worcester State then went on a quick 6-0 run to re-take the lead, flipping WNE's three-point lead into a three-point lead of their own. Down the stretch, Worcester's Shawn Hebert rattled home a three with 2:16 remaining, but it would be answered by a buzzer-beating triple by Matt Houde, seeing the Lancers' lead shrink down to just one at the half, 32-31.
• Worcester State was red-hot from the field through the first 20 minutes of play, shooting 13/24 (54%) and putting down four triples. Western New England's turnover woes hurt, as the team shot just 39% overall in the frame. 

• Western New England had a slow start to the second half, seeing Worcester State open the frame with six quick points in 2:31, forcing a timeout from the Golden Bears. WNE responded with the next four, seeing Nate Kasper and Luka Vlajkovic take advantage of Worcester State turnovers to drop WSU's lead to three. The Golden Bears grabbed their first lead since the midway point of the first half when Luka Vlajkovic dropped in a quick four points, while Justin Garretson provided offense for the Golden Bears with a tip-in layup, giving the blue and gold a 41-40 lead with 12:31 remaining in the game. 
• After a three-pointer from the Lancers that went down, Western New England went on a 13-0 run, led by a pair of triples by Avery Mickens that started and ended the run, while Matt Houde contributed five points, and Travis Mangual contributed another layup at the rim, helping the Golden Bears open up its first double-digit lead of the game, leading 54-43. 
• Worcester State couldn't control the Western New England offense in the final seven minutes of the game, as the Golden Bears continued to connect down low with Vlajkovic, Kasper, and Eddie McCoy, helping the Golden Bears come away with important points late in the game, helping WNE defeat Worcester State by a final score of 72-57. 
• Western New England shot 47% from the field in the second half, shooting 4/12 from deep, including a pair of triples from Mickens to help the Golden Bears go on an important run to down Worcester State. The Lances shot just 8/22 from the field in the second half, 36% overall.

• Matt Houde led WNE in scoring with 17 points on 5/7 shooting, including 2/4 from the outside. Houde snared four rebounds, three assists, and picked up three steals.
• Luka Vlajkovic picked up 15 points and seven rebounds, while also recording three assists, a block, and a steal. 
• Avery Mickens provided a spark off the bench for the Golden Bears, which saw the first-year notch 11 points, a rebound, and an assist in the victory, playing in 24 minutes. 
• The Golden Bears picked up 38 points in the paint, had 21 points off turnovers, and collected 14 fast-break points in the game.
• The lead changed ten times overall in the game, but never for the final 11:56 of the game when Mickens started the 13-0 run. 
• This is the second straight win for WNE over Worcester State after three losses in their previous three seasons.

• Western New England's four-game homestand ends next Tuesday, December 2, welcoming the University of Hartford to the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center for Conference of New England action at 7:30 PM.