BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Junior Damon Alston (New Britain, Conn.) and senior Andre Shaw (New York, N.Y.) combined for 37 points as Western New England University clinched the No. 8 seed in the upcoming Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship with a 57-47 win over the University of New England men's basketball team in the regular-season finale Saturday afternoon at James A. Beaudry Gymnasium.
With the victory, the Golden Bears (9-16, 6-12 CCC) pull even to the Nor'easters in league play, and, by virtue of second level of tiebreaking procedures, claim the eighth and final spot in the upcoming postseason tournament. UNE concludes its season with a record of 6-19 (6-12 CCC).
Alston dialed-up a game-high 22 points and seven rebounds to lead Western New England. Shaw finished with 15 points and four assists. Collectively, the Golden Bears out-rebounded their opponents, 48-37, despite UNE grabbing 18 caroms on the offensive end.
Big Blue junior Charles Fenner III (Bronx, N.Y.) paced the hosts with 12 points, and senior Marcus Winn (Austin, Texas) added 11; the pair combined for 21 points in the second half. Winn ended the game with three trifectas, raising his career total to 208, a total good for 5th on the all-time three-pointers made list.
The Nor'easters struggled shooting the ball throughout the contest, however, connecting for just 23 percent (17 of 75) of their field goal attempts.
The advantage changed hands four times in the initial portion of the first period, until a 7-0 spurt from WNE bumped a 13-12 lead up to eight with 6:23 to go in the frame. Sophomore Abdimajid Mohamed (Biddeford, Maine) dropped-in two jumpers from the left corner to cap the stretch.
The first stanza came to a close with the visitors ahead, 24-14, as together the two teams shot just 25 percent from the floor and 11 percent from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes.
Western New England's cushion swelled to as many as 20 (40-20) at the 14:11 mark of the second, but an 11-0 run from UNE dipped the margin back into single digits (9) just past the midway point of the half.
With the deficit at 14 (49-35) and 3:02 on the clock, a free throw from Big Blue senior Brian Jones (Austin, Texas) followed by classmate Jarryd Rossignol (Caribou, Maine) and Winn knocking down deep shots sliced the difference to seven in a matter of 62 seconds.
Alston had six of his team's eight points the rest of the way to prevent UNE from getting any closer.
The game marked the end of the careers for two other Big Blue seniors -- Ryan Knotek (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) and J.D. Winn (Austin, Texas). All five soon-to-be-graduates were honored during the pregame ceremony for their contributions in the last four seasons.