New England College Claims First NAC Men's Basketball Championship Title - Feb 25, 2018

The New England College men's basketball team made history on Saturday afternoon by winning their first North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Championship title, defeating Colby-Sawyer College 72-56 in front of a capacity crowd at Bridges Gym.
With the win, the Pilgrims (21-6) will advance to the program's first NCAA Tournament. Colby-Sawyer sees its season come to a close at 18-9.

NEC LEADERS
The Pilgrims were led by Ricky Leonard (6'1''-G) (Windsor, Conn.) with a game-high 20 points. Jason Jones (6'6''-F) (Roxbury, Mass.) chipped in with a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds, while Calvin Cheek (5'8''-PG) (Mattapan, Mass.) finished with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals.

CSC LEADERS
The Chargers received 14 points from Dana Bean (6'8''-C) (Franklin, N.H.) and 10 points from Erik Olsen (Dracut, Mass.) off the bench.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Pilgrims controlled the scoreboard from the first possession on and quickly built a 10-point lead, 14-4, in just over five minutes of action. The Chargers used the next four minutes to cut the deficit to four points, 15-11 with 11:08 left in the half, but NEC held them to their 11 points for a four-minute run and led 23-11 with 7:55 to go. The Pilgrims were up by 13 points, 36-23, at halftime.
The Pilgrims nearly doubled-up the Chargers in first-half shooting efficiency, hitting 14-of-33 (42.4 percent) while holding Colby-Sawyer to eight field goals on 27 shots (29.6 percent).
Colby-Sawyer came within six points four minutes into the second half but that proved to be the tipping point for NEC, who used a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to take a 46-33 lead. The pendulum really began swinging in NEC's favor with less than 10 minutes to play. NEC would lead by 20 points, 59-39, with 7:10 still to go and would lead by 29 points three minutes later. The Chargers hit some shots at the end of the game to seal the 16-point win for NEC, 72-56.
NEC shot better from the floor in the second half, hitting 14-of-29 for a 48.3 percent efficiency. The Chargers shot 9-for-24 in the second half.

Courtesy of NACAthletics

NAC Tournament Final: New England College - Colby-Sawyer 72-56
NAC Tournament Semifinals:
New England College - Me.-Farmington 71-56
Colby-Sawyer - Husson 89-76