Box Score WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (January 28, 2026) – The Western New England men's basketball team trailed by six in the early stages of the second half before senior Luka Vlajkovic took over for the Golden Bears, scoring 15 points in the final 20 minutes of action to secure a Conference of New England victory over the University of Hartford Hawks on Wednesday night inside Chase Arena. 

Records:

• Western New England 13-5, 7-2 CNE
• University of Hartford: 11-8, 5-5 CNE

How it Happened:

First Half:

• The Golden Bears saw Hartford open the game with the first four points before hitting their first field goal, which came just over three minutes into the opening half when Avery Mickens drilled a triple from deep. Hartford's River Eberhart picked up an early four points for the hosts, giving the Hawks a small 6-3 lead four minutes into the contest. The Golden Bears shot just 1/9 in the opening seven minutes of the game and had just three points, forcing a timeout with 13:06 remaining in the half as Hartford extended its lead to six, 9-3. 
• Coming out of the timeout, the Blue and Gold responded with six straight points to even the score at nine after Travis Mangual hit from the outside, while Justin Garretson picked up a layup at the rim while being fouled, also hitting a free throw to even the score. WNE's run continued when Garretson found Matt Houde for a jumper to give the Blue and Gold an 11-9 lead. Luka Vlajkovic got on the board with a triple that broke an 11-11 tie at the midway point of the opening half on an assist from Nate Kasper, putting the Golden Bears ahead, 14-11. Kasper continued to facilitate the ball when he found Jason Britschge for a layup to extend the WNE lead. 
• As the game crossed over into the final eight minutes of the opening half, Western New England saw a trio, Mickens, Mangual, and Garretson, each pick up two fouls each, allowing Hartford to get to the free throw line, where eight of their opening 17 points of the game came from to take a 17-16 lead over WNE. The Golden Bears started slow from the free throw line, a team that entered the game shooting under 60% from the line this season, going 1/5 early on. 
• Hartford's Ben Miller was the first in double figures, scoring ten points with 4:05 remaining in the opening half, including five points from the free throw line to give the Hawks a 23-20 lead. Down the stretch in the final two minutes of the half, the lead changed a pair of times, with Hartford holding onto a 25-24 lead at the break. 
• The Golden Bears made eight field goals in the opening half, shooting 33% from the floor. Western New England left nine points at the free throw line in the opening half, going just 5/14. Hartford shot just 6/23 from the field in the opening half (26%) but was saved at the free-throw line, where 12 of their 25 points came from in the first half. The Hawks had the rebounding advantage 26-14 in the opening 20 minutes. 

Second Half:

• The Golden Bears scored at the free-throw line to tie the game coming out of the halftime break before the Hawks led by six following an and-one from River Eberhardt, giving Hartford a 33-27 lead. The Golden Bears had their second field goal of the quarter drop from Travis Mangual, who also had the first, to drop Hartford's lead to three with 16:15 to play. Hartford answered with a layup at the rim to be quickly answered by a Matt Houde layup as the Hawks held onto a 35-33 lead, following a made free throw on an and-one for the senior, getting the Golden Bears back within two, forcing a timeout from Hartford. 
• Out of the timeout, the Golden Bears took the lead for all of four seconds after Drezell Duffaut had his first shot of the game go down, only to be quickly answered by Hartford's Kyle Winters,  who scored his eighth point of the night to give the Hawks a 39-38 lead with exactly 13 minutes remaining in the half. The back-and-forth contest saw the Golden Bears knock down a pair of free throws on the next possession from Eddie McCoy to take a 40-39 lead. The tightly contested CNE game saw the Golden Bears lead by one at the midway point of the second half until Winter was able to splash a three for the Hawks and give Hartford a 46-43 lead with 9:27 to play. Hartford extended its lead, going on a quick 8-0 run to take a 50-43 lead with under eight minutes to play. 
• Luka Vlajkovic was into double figures with ten points with 6:44 remaining to get the Golden Bears back within four, while Eddie McCoy got to the rim to score a layup with six minutes to play to pull the Golden Bears within two. Western New England got hot at the right time and tied the game on four straight possessions, being down by eight but tying the game at 52 on a Vlajkovic layup, forcing a Hartford timeout with just north of five minutes remaining in the second half. 
• Vlajkovic took over for the Golden Bears in the final ten minutes, scoring his 20^th point of the night with 1:36 remaining to give Western New England a five-point lead, 60-55, the largest lead for the Golden Bears of the night. WNE added to the lead with 1:04 to play with a made free throw, leading by six. Hartford wouldn't answer after the Hawks got back-to-back three-point chances but missed both chances, while the rebound on the second Hartford triple went WNE's way. Matt Houde's final two free throws of the game iced the win for the Golden Bears, who took a 65-55 victory.

Inside the Lines:

• Luka Vlajkovic's eighth double-double of the season led the team to victory. Vlajkovic scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half, going 8/15 from the field overall while grabbing 13 rebounds, two assists, and a steal in the win.
• Matt Houde was a perfect 5/5 at the free throw line and came up with 13 points for the Golden Bears. Houde was 4/8 from the floor, picking up three steals and two rebounds in the win.
• Western New England shot 42% in the second half, going 13/26 inside the arc. 
• As a team, the Golden Bears shot 39% from the field for the game, dropping in just four threes. Hartford shot just 32% from the floor and was 3/23 from the outside. The Hawks hit 18 of their 27 free throw attempts. 
• The lead changed nine different times in the game, and the game was tied at 11 different points. Hartford held a lead for 24:44 while Western New England came up with a lead for 8:42 of the game.
• The Golden Bears avenged their loss at home earlier this season to the Hawks to split the regular season series. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• WNE men's basketball returns home after two weeks away, hosting Suffolk University in a rematch of last year's Conference of New England Championship game, playing the Rams on Saturday, January 31, at 3:00 PM.