Men's basketball defeats Western New England in overtime

Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Roger Williams University Men's Basketball team landed a 69-68 overtime win over Western New England University Saturday afternoon at the Alumni Healthful Living Center on Saturday. Both teams are now 3-5 overall and 1-1 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference.

Andrew Wasik scored a game-high 21 points, including all eight of his team's points in overtime to help Roger Williams University rally from 10 points down in the second half.

Junior Zack Askew had a double-double for Western New England with 11 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Graduate student and co-captain Nick DeFeo led the Golden Bears offense with 16 points, followed by freshman Nelson Zayas with 13 and sophomore Mike Gelineau, 12.

For Roger Williams, Jaylen Jennings had a double-double of his own with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Ryan Palumbo added 12 points and five rebounds.

With the Hawks trailing 68-67, Wasik sank two free throws with 28 seconds left in the 5-minute extra session to give Roger Williams the win. Western New England had a chance to take back the lead, but senior co-captain Musa Elsir's jumper was off the mark with 3 seconds left and Leonardo Atkinson came down with the defensive rebound to seal the victory.

The game went into overtime because DeFeo made two free throws with 0:00 showing on the clock (the horn and the backboard red lights had not gone off) and the score was tied 61-61, capping a wild sequence at the end of regulation. With 1 minute and 29 seconds to go, Askew converted a pair of free throws to pull WNE within 60-58. Then the teams exchanged missed 3-pointers and when RWU tried to advance the ball up the court after a defensive rebound, there was a collision in front of the Hawks bench. The Roger Williams assistant coach argued for a foul against WNE, but the official assessed a technical foul to give DeFeo two free throw attempts with 24 seconds left. He made the first one to make it 60-59.

Roger Williams had a chance to run out the clock but the Hawks turned the ball over at 10 seconds, followed by a WNE turnover six seconds later. Palumbo had a chance to give the Hawks a 62-59 lead at the stripe, but he made one free throw to make it just a two-point margin. The Golden Bears quickly worked the ball up to halfcourt and called timeout for a final play. DeFeo then attacked the basket and was fouled underneath to set up the game-tying foul shots to force OT.

Clinging to a 30-29 halftime lead, the Golden Bears opened the second half on a 9-0 run in a 74-second span on a pair of treys by Gelineau and one from Elsir in three consecutive possessions to take a seemingly comfortable 39-29 cushion with 18:46 remaining.

But RWU eventually tied it 44-all on a Jennings three-pointer to cap a 15-5 run with 9:55 to go. The teams traded baskets the rest of the way as neither side led by more than four points.

Western New England will be taking final exams next week and will then have the Christmas/New Year's holidays before returning to the court on Saturday, Jan. 3, when the Golden Bears host non-conference opponent Western Connecticut State for a 1 p.m. tip-off.

- Release courtesy of the Western New England University Sports Information Department

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