BRISTOL, R.I. (February 5, 2025) – The Western New England men's basketball team used a large second-half run on Wednesday night to defeat the Hawks of Roger Williams University by a final score of 78-56 to improve to 15-5 on the season.

Records:

• Western New England: 15-5, 11-2 CNE
• Roger Williams University: 13-7, 8-5 CNE

How it Happened:
Roger Williams had the upper hand in the first five minutes of the game, which saw the Hawks quickly jump on the Golden Bears, leading 16-6. WNE saw just Tim Restall, Andrew Byfield, and Jake Harrison come away with two points each while the Hawks got going quickly. Finn Miller had nine points for RWU in the first 2:34 of the game that led Roger Williams to their opening ten-point lead. Cody Palazzesi would hit back-to-back three balls for Western New England that quickly dropped Roger Williams's lead to four while Palazzesi had the next eight for the Golden Bears. Jake Harrison's floater at the rim would tie the game at 16 as Western New England would go on a run of their own to quickly erase the ten-point RWU lead. Western New England held a four-point lead at the midway point of the first half after Tim Retsall picked up a pass from Nate Kasper and came away with a layup, giving the blue and gold a 23-19 lead. Brian Geitner would get on the scoreboard for the first time with 8:20 to play in the opening half on a driving layup, which started a Western New England 5-0 run that gave the Golden Bears their largest lead of the first half, seven, taking a 28-21 edge. Roger Williams would get back within four quickly before Jake Harrison would take over the game on both offense and rebounding as the WNE senior would go for double figures in points in the first half, dropping 12 total points while hauling in nine first-half rebounds. Despite WNE's seven-point lead, the Golden Bears would see the hosts get themselves right back in the game as Philip Sughrue would hit from three while Nate Lopes would drive to the rim for a layup, giving RWU just a one-point deficit, 31-30 with 2:51 still to play. Nate Kasper's first layup of the game came with 58 seconds left in the half that gave Western New England a four-point edge. RWU would get two more points to end the half, seeing Western New England take a 36-34 lead after one half. The Golden Bears shot 45% from the field in the half, going 3/7 from deep while out-rebounding the Hawks 21-14.

The Hawks picked up the first basket of the second half, which tied the game at 36, which would be the closest RWU would be from taking a lead in the second half as the Golden Bears would break the game open with a huge second half while holding the Hawks to poor second half shooting. Eddie McCoy would have WNE's first bucket of the second half, coming at 16:39 remaining. Western New England would not be able to score for the first 3:21 of the second half, though scoring would not be a problem for the blue and gold following. Cody Palazzesi hit from distance with 15:12 remaining that gave Western New England a nine-point lead while Tim Restall was on the board with a layup that grew WNE's lead to its largest of the game thus far, 11 points, 49-38. Western New England would go on a big 14-0 run to take a commanding lead. Half of those 14 points came from Eddie McCoy, while Jake Harrison and Tim Restall also contributed for Western New England. WNE continued to pull away from the Hawks as Nate Kasper would have four straight points in the game for the Golden Bears and six points overall in a row, giving Western New England a 60-43 lead. The Golden Bears continued to hold their big lead with under five minutes left to play. Luka Vlajkovic would heat up from the floor to continue growing Western New England's lead, scoring eight points in three minutes, giving the Golden Bears a 72-52 lead. Western New England would continue holding off one of the nation's top three-point shooting teams and would defeat Roger Williams with their big second half run, downing the Hawks 78-56.

Inside the Lines:

• For the second straight game, senior Jake Harrison would rip down 16 rebounds in the win. The South Boston, Massachusetts native scored a season-high 22 points on the night to lead Western New England, going 10/12 from the field overall.
• Cody Palazzesi shot 5/8 overall for the blue and gold and had 14 points on the night, thanks to shooting 4/7 from deep.
• Tim Restall was also in double figures on the night, going 6/8 overall from the field, collecting 15 points and five rebounds on the night.
• 14 of Nate Kasper and Luka Vlajkovic's combined 16 points came in the second half of play.
• WNE outscored Roger Williams 42-22 in the second half to come away with the win.
• Western New England shot 52% from the field in total, going 28/46 inside three-point territory.
• The WNE defense held Roger Williams to 5/27 shooting from the outside. RWU was 2/13 from three in the second half.
• Mac Annus, RWU's all-time leader in threes, shot 0/2 from deep and was held to just six points. Annus has been held to single digits in scoring just twice this season, both coming against Western New England.

Up Next on the Schedule:
WNE will take on Nichols College, whom they haven't seen since December 2, on Saturday, February 8, at 3:30 PM.