BRISTOL, R.I. – Staked to a 15-point disadvantage and staring a road playoff game in the face, the Roger Williams University Men's Basketball team, led by Drew Hart (Cheshire, Conn.), mounted a furious comeback to beat Western New England University, 74-66, on Saturday afternoon at the Campus Rec Center. On his Senior Day, Hart scored 18 of his game-high 26 across the final 17 and a half minutes, during which the Hawks outscored the Golden Bears 42-19 on their way to the win.
 
Entering the contest, all roads led to a rematch with the Golden Bears in the opening round of the CCC Tournament on Tuesday, February 22^nd. However, there was still much at stake in terms of seedings and determining what team would host that contest. Roger Williams took care of their end of the deal while Endicott College rolled Suffolk University, 90-71 in Beverly, Massachusetts. This resulted in RWU standing alone at 11-7 in conference play and third place. On the other side, with the games result WNE fell to 9-9 against conference foes, with the Gulls and Rams both sitting at 10-8 and sandwiched in between themselves and Roger Williams, thus making the Golden Bears the sixth seed.
 
This is also the fourth time in the last five seasons in which the men's basketball team has finished with a winning record in CCC play but despite that, this is only the second time in the past ten years that RWU claimed a top-three seed.
 
After getting honored alongside student-coach and fellow senior Brett Grospitch (Tolland, Conn.) pregame for their contributions to the men's basketball program, Hart put together a fantastic showing. He accumulated five boards, three assists, two steals, and a game-high two blocks in addition to his scoring output, during which he connected on nine of his 15 shots from the field, 5-of-6 from the charity stripe, and shot 75% from long range.
 
Joining Hart in double-figures for Roger Williams was Mac Annus (Belmont, Mass.) and Eli Harris (Falmouth, Mass.). Annus finished with 18 points, going 8-for-11 along the way, while Harris only had a dozen, but nonetheless hit some critical shots down the stretch. Nate Lopes (Scituate, Mass.) secured a team-best seven rebounds to go with six points, three assists, and a pair of steals to lead the second unit.
 
Alex Sikorski (Rocky Hill, Conn.) highlighted the Western New England offensive attack with 21 points but required 19 shots to get there and was limited to shooting just 3-of-10 and 0-for-3 from deep in the second half. Sikorski also dished a contest-best five helpers, corralled eight rebounds, and snatched a pair of steals. Brian Geitner (Tolland, Conn.) added 11 points for WNE, and Gavin Greene (Monroe, Conn) finished with ten to round out those in double-digits. Tim Restall (Tolland, Conn.) did well on the glass with a game-high 14 boards but also committed seven turnovers.
 
Hawk Highlights
Drew Hart: 26 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals
Mac Annus: 18 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal
Eli Harris: 12 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Nate Lopes: 6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 steals
 
For The Opponents
Alex Sikorski: 21 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals
Brian Geitner: 11 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist
Gavin Greene: 10 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist
Tim Restall: 8 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 steal
 
How It Happened
Things started slowly in this one, as through five and a half minutes Roger Williams held the advantage 9-8. Western New England would then rattle off eight consecutive points over the following four minutes. The hosts answered with back-to-back buckets from Nate Lopes (Scituate, Mass.) and Will MacDonald (York, Maine) but WNE would consistently keep RWU at an arms-length. However, so did the Hawks as they kept things from getting out of hand despite not shooting very well. The Golden Bear advantage would hover between five and nine points from the 10:30 mark until the final half minute of the frame. Alex Sikorski (Rocky Hill, Conn.) hit a three-pointer with 22 seconds remaining but after an Eli Harris (Falmouth, Mass.) attempt from deep was blocked, Sikorski would bury another one at the horn to lift the visitors to an 11-point advantage at the break, their largest to that point.
 
Roger Williams just could not find an offensive rhythm in the stanza, connecting on just two of their 13 attempts from downtown in the half and only shot 43.8% overall from the field though their 20 points from the interior, 5-2 advantage in the turnover battle, and 8-2 edge in points off those mistakes kept the Hawks within striking distance.
 
Western New England, meanwhile, was having little trouble on offense shooting just under 60% from the field, including 4-7 from deep. Sikorski was excellent with a dozen points while the team as a whole crashed the boards doubling up RWU in rebounding, 22-11.
 
In the opening minutes of the second half, things did not improve much. Brian Geitner (Tolland, Conn.) buried a three and Sikorski knocked down a second-chance jumper with Drew Hart (Cheshire, Conn.) splitting a pair from the line splitting the difference. In any case with their shots not falling and a home playoff game slipping away trailing by 15, things were looking bleak for the Hawks.
 
However, Hart would have something to say about that as he took over scoring ten of the next 13 points to get the game back to single-digits. Then Lopes got in on the fun with four straight divided between a trip to the line and a layup, then MacDonald with a layup, and Mac Annus (Belmont, Mass.) with a triple, and who else but Hart finishing the run with another layup and all of a sudden RWU had turned a 15-point disadvantage into a three-point advantage. If you blinked, you would have missed it, as the Hawks needed just five and a half minutes to go on a 21-3 stretch and they would virtually never trail again.
 
It would remain a two-possession game basically straight through the final horn, in between which the game would be tied on three occasions. The Golden Bears did claim a brief one-point lead, 61-60 after a Sikorski layup, but Annus responded with a triple right after. The RWU defense held firm while the offense took advantage of their chances at the charity stripe through the final moments. As the clock ticked under 30 seconds to play, WNE battled for extra chances, but a Hart rebound and long outlet to a streaking Annus for a fastbreak layup put things out of reach and clinched the win and the third seed.
 
The Roger Williams defense really tightened their grip on WNE in the second half. After the guests hit on 59.4% of their looks in the first frame, they managed to connect on just a third of their attempts after the break including 2-of-10 from deep. RWU, meanwhile, saw much better results as they made just over half of their 29 shot attempts, buried six threes, and went 7-of-9 from the free throw line to complete the comeback.
 
What's Next
Following a pair of closely contested matchups in the regular season, the Hawks (14-9, 11-7 CCC) and Golden Bears (12-13, 9-9 CCC) will battle it out once more in the quarterfinals round of the CCC Tournament next Tuesday. Tip-off is expected to be 7:30 PM.