QUINCY, Mass. -- After building a lead as high as 11 in the 2nd half, Eastern Nazarene College saw the University of New England pull within one on three occasions in the final minutes before logging a 65-62 win in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball action Tuesday evening (Jan. 17) at the Lahue PE Center.

The Lions surrendered the opening bucket of the final stanza to fall behind by one, but then turned in a 13-1 spurt in just over three minutes to go up 49-38. Anthony Petrilli started the run with six straight points, and Josh Rice polished off the last five.

UNE responded with a 16-6 stretch -- which included treys from four different players and five points out of Drew Muniz -- to trim the deficit to 55-54 with 6:36 remaining. Following two more three-pointers by Big Blue, the gap was still one (61-60) at the 2:38 mark.

Two empty trips both ways allowed ENC's Christian Lynch to establish a 63-60 spread with 0:39 left. After a UNE missed field goal, the Lions missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Gavin Dibble came back down the get the Nor'easters two (63-62) with 10 seconds on the clock.

Lynch converted his 1-and-1 effort with 0:07 showing to provide the resulting margin -- the visitors were unable to put up a tying attempt before time expired.

The victory is the fifth straight for Eastern Nazarene (6-3 CCC), which improves to 9-7 on the year. UNE dips back to 5-11 overall, 3-6 in league action.

Lynch tallied a game-best 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, leading the way on a 36-12 scoring advantage in the paint. Corey Doran added 14 behind 7-of-11 accuracy from the floor. Petrilli contributed 12 points and six assists, and Rice registered 10 points. David Eddings also had six assists to go with his match-high nine rebounds.

Muniz topped the balanced Nor'easter attack with 13 points. Dibble, Drew Patno, and Ryan Matthews all tossed in 10 points; Patno collected a team-high seven boards to help UNE finish with a 34-32 edge on the glass. CJ Autry recorded nine points, and Drew Coveney went for eight points and six assists.

ENC connected on 48 percent (26-for-54) of its field goals, while Big Blue settled at 40 percent (22-of-55). The Nor'easters did splash eight more triples than their opponents, going 13-for-35 from long distance on the night.

In the 1st period, UNE trailed 26-15 with a little more than seven minutes to play before halftime, but rallied by doubling-up the hosts into the break to stand just one shy (36-35). Muniz had eight during the 20-10 run. Lynch sat on 14 points at intermission.

The Nor'easters will look a rebound on Saturday (3 p.m.) at Salve Regina University (2-7 CCC).