BIDDEFORD, Maine – The Roger Williams men's basketball team fell to the University of New England (UNE) on Saturday afternoon in the Harold Alfond Forum, 91-85, in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) tilt.
 
The Hawks were led by Mac Annus on the offensive end who tallied 22 points in the contest, with four rebounds and three assists. Finn Miller was responsible for 13 points and had 10 rebounds for a double-double with three assists and a steal. Will MacDonald tallied 10 points in his first game back with eight rebounds and three assists.
 
Adam Lux scored 28 points for the Nor'easters who picked up their first CCC victory of the season.  Lux also added 11 boards, with a block and a steal. Jack Pyzynski had 22 points, with nine rebounds, and four assists, with four steals on the defensive end.   
 
UNE, after a steal, found Lux for a layup attempt to start the scoring 15 seconds into the game. The Nor'easters went on to take an early 6-0 lead, scoring on their first three possessions of the game.  Philip Sughrue then drilled a three pointer on the Hawks ensuing possession to get the Roger Williams offense moving.
 
With UNE leading 8-7, Annus hit his first shot of the game, a three with 16:21 remaining in the opening half, giving the Hawks their first lead of the game. UNE held a 19-15 lead over the Hawks before Ty Higgins knocked down a triple with 12:12 remaining to ct the lead back down to one.  The Nor'easters responded with back-to-back threes from Zach Federico and Adam Lux, taking an 25-18 advantage.
 
UNE led by 10 with 8:20 remaining in the opening half after Pyzynski connected on a jumper.  Annus responded with a three to cut the lead down to seven, and Devin Johnson followed on the next Roger Williams possession with a jumper cutting the deficit to five. UNE expanded the lead back to eight, 40-32, and Roger Williams again come back, scoring five straight to cut the deficit back down to three.
 
With 1:04 remaining Sean Gogolin connected with a jumper making it a two-point contest at 44-42, before the Nor'easters rallied to score the final four points of the quarter, in the final minute leading 48-42 at the break.
 
The Nor'easters opened the second half with two buckets to extend the lead back to 10 points in the opening minute of the half, with Hawks responding with scored on three straight possessions to cut the lead down to six. UNE extended the lead back out to seven points, but the Hawks again went on a small run to cut the lead down to three.
 
With UNE leading 69-63 with 10:20 remaining in the second half, the Hawks saw three straight scores, the first by Annus, and second and third from MacDonald to level the score at 69-69. The Nor'easters again took the lead, scoring five straight points. But again the Hawks came back cutting the lead to one after Johnson converted on a layup-and-one attempt at the line.
 
With 3:54 remaining the Hawks trailed 84-79, before Annus hit a jumper a minute later.  The Nor'easters outscored the Hawks 7-4 over the final 1:12 as they sealed the victory.
 
Roger Williams (11-12, 8-6 CCC) will host Wentworth on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 pm in the Campus Rec Center.  The Hawks will then round out the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 17 with a tilt in Dudley against Nichols.