BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The University of New England men's basketball team overcame a 17-point deficit with less than nine minutes remaining and secured a thrilling 70-65 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) victory over Wentworth Institute of Technology on Coach Beaudry's Court inside the Harold Alfond Forum Wednesday night (Jan. 19).

It was a one-point match in favor of the hosts at the half (34-33), but after the Nor'easters began the 2nd period with a hoop, the Leopards struck for the next 14 (47-36). Shortly thereafter, a 9-1 spurt, capped by five from Kyle Henseler, upped the margin to 56-39 with 10:12 to go.

But at the 8:26 mark, a couple free throws by Alex Kravchuk started UNE back. What totaled to a 16-2 run was capped by a three-pointer from Anthony Senesombath with 4:08 left, slicing the gap to 58-55. While Sam Swift countered right away with a triple for Wentworth, and a pair of freebies made it 63-55 with 2:58 to play, the hosts still had fight in them.

Kravchuk wasted little time to bouncing back with a trey (2:47), and a backcourt turnover with some scrambling resulted in an Avery DeBrito trey with 2:24 on the clock [Watch]. Senesombath canned another from the deep corner with 1:19 showing to vault the Nor'easters in front (64-63) [Watch], and following a Wentworth miss, Kravchuk drew a foul to net two at the charity stripe and provide UNE with some breathing room at 66-63 (0:45). The teams traded turnovers, leaving the door open for the visitors, but WIT missed a look at evening things up and Kravchuk tacked on a couple more to make it 13 in-a-row and increase the spread to 68-63 (0:15).

The Leopards got a jumper in the waning moments (68-65), however DeBrito sank two at the line to seal it. From the valley of their uphill climb to the win, the Nor'easters accounted for 31 of the final 40 points.

Kravchuk amassed 28 points and six steals to pace UNE (3-13, 2-7 CCC). He did it largely behind the most made free throws (16-of-17) in over 33 years of UNE basketball, and now stands 10th in the combined history of UNE, Westbrook College, and St. Francis College with 1,467 career points.

DeBrito added 12 points and seven rebounds, while Drake Gavin chipped in with 11 points. Senesombath ended with eight points and six caroms. The hosts out-scored their opponent by a dozen at the line, going 24-for-27 in game -- season highs for conversions and percentage.

For Wentworth (5-8, 2-5 CCC), Kevin Fernandez tossed in 20 points. Henseler registered 15 before fouling out with over three minutes remaining, and Thomas Hacker notched 11 points with nine boards. Jack Schaake corralled 11 rebounds to guide his squad to a 42-29 edge on the glass. The Leopards, however, were saddled by 27 turnovers.

Fernandez had a quick nine as the visitors got out to a 12-4 start to the night, only to see Gavin log seven during a 16-2 stretch that flipped the Nor'easters on top (20-14) -- their biggest cushion. The lead changed hands four more times prior to intermission, when things returned to almost level.