HENNIKER, N.H. – Roger Williams University's Taylor Petruccelli (Stratford, Conn.) came off the bench to score a team-high 19 points leading the visiting Hawks past the New England College Pilgrims 83-66 in men's basketball action Saturday afternoon.  With the win the Hawks improve to 10-7 overall and 2-3 in conference play.  The loss drops the Pilgrims to 5-12 overall and 0-5 in the conference.

NEC would open the game with the early 7-2 lead but Roger Williams would get back-to-back layups from Pat Flanagan (Somerville, Mass.) and a layup by Corey Fava (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) to go up 8-7 just four minutes into the game.

Roger Williams would slowly build an 11 point lead with 2:41 remaining.  The Pilgrims would cut the lead to eight late but the Hawks would respond scoring the final four points of the half to head into the intermission up 33-21.

The Hawks would open the second half on a 10-1 run grabbing their largest lead of the afternoon up 21 points just three minutes into the half.  NEC would slowly chip away cutting the lead to 13 with just under nine minutes remaining but Roger Williams would finish the second half shooting 58% from the field to capture the 83-66 victory.

Roger Williams' Pat Flanagan finished the game with 17 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.  Corey Fava (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) was the only other Hawk in double-figures finishing with 15 points and a game-high six assists.

Leading the way for NEC was Shane Hennessey (Plymouth, England) who finished with 19 points.  NEC's Eric Lenahan (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) chipped in nine points for the Pilgrims.

NEC will be back in action on Thursday, Jan 28 when they travel to take on conference opponent Gordon College. Roger Williams will also be in action on Thursday, Jan. 28 when they host conference opponent Endicott College.

- News Release courtesy New England College Sports Information Office.