SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (January 31, 2026) – The Western New England men's basketball team held a 21-point lead in Saturday's Conference of New England game inside the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center, only to see the Rams fight back in the second half to take a lead, but a late triple from Avery Mickens and clutch free throw shooting from Matt Houde gave Western New England a 62-59 victory to take sole-possession of second place in the CNE standings. 

Records:

• Western New England: 14-5, 8-2 CNE
• Suffolk University: 11-9, 7-4 CNE

How it Happened:

First Half:

• The Golden Bears came out roaring in the opening ten minutes of the game, burying the Rams early. Despite Suffolk picking up the opening two points of the game, WNE used clutch free throw shooting, one of their best free throw shooting games of the season, to take a 6-2 lead when Nate Kasper and Matt Houde got on the scoreboard early. Avery Mickens hit from distance for WNE's first field goal of the afternoon to give the Blue and Gold a 9-2 lead, while Mickens followed that up with a strong layup to the rim, forcing a Suffolk timeout just four minutes into the contest, seeing WNE take a quick 11-2 lead. 
• The Golden Bears scored 17 points in a row following the opening bucket of the game from the Rams, capped off by a Kasper driving layup as the senior was up to six points on the afternoon early in the game. Suffolk could never bring the game back within single digits before halftime as Western New England continued to score. 
• Travis Mangual put the Golden Bears ahead 21-6 with eight minutes remaining in the opening half while an Eddie McCoy three and a thunderous dunk from Jason Britschge put WNE ahead by 16, 26-10. The Golden Bears had an answer to every bucket from Suffolk, leading by 19 with 2:36 to go when McCoy knocked his second three down in the half. 
• The Golden Bears took a 17-point lead into the break, shooting 37% in the opening half, going 10/27 from the field, including 3/11 from deep. The Golden Bears made 11 of their 12 free throws in the opening half while Suffolk was just 7/25 from the field and 2/12 from the outside. 

Second Half:

• Nate Kasper gave the Golden Bears a 19-point lead to begin the second half on a made layup, as Western New England looked to close out the Rams early. Suffolk responded in a big way in the second half, starting with a triple from Connor Strickland while James Jones got a jumper to fall to cut the WNE down to 14 just a short time after. The Rams continued their run and had WNE's lead down to ten just three and a half minutes into the second half after Jones hit from deep to go into double figures with 11 points for the afternoon as the Golden Bears led 36-26. 
• Luka Vlajkovic corralled an offensive rebound and stopped the Suffolk run at the 15:52 mark of the half to keep WNE ahead by double figures. The WNE lead would reach 14 before Suffolk began another run to get back into the game. With 12:00 to go in the half, Suffolk's Declan Davis drilled a triple to get the WNE lead down to eight. Matt Houde answered with a three-pointer to bring the lead back to 11, but Suffolk's Jones again responded to drop the lead back to single digits as the game crossed over to the midway point of the half. 
• The Western New England lead was down to three with 9:16 remaining after Jones once again got hot for the Rams, hitting a pair of free throws. The WNE lead floated around four points as the game headed down towards five minutes remaining in the game when Suffolk's Nick Verdile hit a jumper from the free throw line to bring the game to 53-51 in favor of the Golden Bears. Verdile tied the game for the Rams with 3:30 remaining, while James Jones gave the Rams a one-point lead with 2:02 left to play, the first lead of the game for Suffolk since it was 2-0 in the opening 30 seconds of the game. 
• A triple from Avery Mickens with 1:40 remaining in the half put the Golden Bears ahead 58-56, a clutch bucket for the Golden Bears. A pair of free throws with 18 seconds left from Matt Houde gave WNE a 60-56 lead before Verdile wouldn't let the Rams go away quietly, hitting a triple with seven seconds to play to get the game back within one, 60-59. Houde dropped two more free throws with six seconds left as the Golden Bears took a three-point lead into the final possession of the game, one that saw Suffolk miss a three at the horn, sending the Golden Bears to their sixth straight CNE win of the season.
• A massive comeback from Suffolk in the half saw the Rams outscore WNE 42-28. Suffolk was an unconscious 64% from the field in the half, going 4/7 from deep. WNE shot just 29% from the field in the half, hitting eight field goals in all. 

Inside the Lines:

• Matt Houde led WNE in scoring with 13 points on 3/9 shooting, going a clutch 6/6 from the free throw line. Houde also picked up four assists and two rebounds. 
• Avery Mickens had a big triple go down in the final two minutes of the game, finishing the game with 12 points, three rebounds, and a steal.
• Nate Kasper was also in double digits with ten points on the afternoon. 
• The Golden Bears shot just 33% from the field, their second-lowest of the season. Three of the last four CNE games have been the lowest shooting percentages of the season for Western New England. 
• The Golden Bears, who entered the game with a 59% free throw shooting percentage as a team, were a clutch 20/25 from the line, going 80% overall, the second-best of the year. 
• Suffolk saw James Jones lead the team with 19 points on 8/12 shooting, picking up nine rebounds in the loss. 
• Western New England has two straight wins over the Rams, including last year's CNE Championship game victory. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England ventures out to Curry College for a midweek Conference of New England game on Tuesday, February 3 at 7:30 PM.