CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Mitchell College senior Joshua Ford recorded a game-high 23 points and corralled 14 rebounds to lead the Mariners to an 84-80 victory over Lesley University on Saturday night in New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) action at Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols.

With the win, Mitchell moved to 4-3 on the year and 2-0 in NECC play. The Lynx fell to 1-6 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

Ford, who also dished out six assists, recorded his seventh consecutive double-double while classmate Alex Del Rio chipped in with 14 points and five boards. Sophomore Frank Martin also finished in double-figures with 11 points while freshman Wyatt Springer came off the bench for nine points, including going 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.

Nikalus Oliver dumped in a career-high 22 points to lead the Lynx while Mike Kaufman went 4-of-7 from deep on his way to 14 points. Trevonn Lewis came off the bench for 15 points and six rebounds while Kris Bennett finished with six points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

The Mariners opened up play by rallying to a 13-0 lead over the first 3:30 of action. Del Rio accounted for much of the production, scoring six of his 14 during the streak. However, the Lynx answered right back with a 12-3 run that cut the lead back to three at 15-12.

With 9:10 to go in the opening half, a Ford steal and lay-up gave the visitors a 26-18 lead and sparked a 9-2 run, pushing the lead to 15.  Back-to-back Rosa jumpers cut the Lynx deficit to 10 at 40-30 with just under two minutes before the break, but the Mariners finished the half on a 7-2 spurt to carry a 47-21 edge into the break.

Mitchell shot nearly 60 percent (19-of-34) in the opening half, including an impressive 46 percent (5-of-11) from three-point range. The Lynx shot just 33 percent (10-of-30) and a paltry 13 percent (1-of-8) from deep.

The Lynx quickly cut the lead back to single digits thanks to three straight triples from Rosa and Kaufman, but Mitchell junior Alex Pires knocked down a big trey of his own to halt the Lesley run.

With 10:04 to go, an Oliver basket sparked a 7-0 run as the Lynx climbed back to within five at 57-52. Mitchell quickly stopped the Lesley momentum once again as freshman Marcus Vereen and Ford teamed up to score six of the next eight points, extending the lead back to 63-54.

Mitchell continued to keep its foot on the gas, pushing the advantage to 14 with 3:22 left in the game following a Martin triple and lay-up from sophomore Devonta Mosley. Lesley continued to battle back as it went on an 8-0 run capped by a thunderous slam by Lewis to cut the lead to 75-69 with 1:49 to go.

The Lynx pulled to within four with 19 seconds remaining after Kaufman hit a baseline jumper, but the Mariners hung on for the 84-80 victory. The Mariners benefited fromm clutch free throw shooting down the stretch, going 5-of-7 from the stripe in the final 36 seconds.

The Mariners shot 51 percent (31-of-61) from the floor and knocked down 41 percent (9-of-22) from downtown. The Lynx, who hit 50 percent (18-of-36) of their field goal attempts in the second half, finished the game with at 42 percent (28-66) while hitting 37 percent (7-of-19) of their three-point attempts.

Mitchell will next play at CCNY on Thursday, December at 6 p.m.