MILTON, Mass. – The Curry College men's basketball team fell to visiting University of New England in the final minutes in a 65-57 loss in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Saturday afternoon. The loss drops the Colonels to 0-21 on the season and 0-14 in the conference while the Nor'easters improve to 11-10 overall and 6-8 in the CCC. 

Curry opened the scoring just under two minutes after the opening tip with junior Paul Preziosi (Quincy, Mass.) splitting a pair of shots from the free-throw line. Preziosi would respond a couple minutes later by hitting both of his shots to get the lead back after junior Sam Thomas (Bedford, N.H.) made a layup. After junior James Pina (Warwick, R.I.) broke a 4-4 tie, the Colonels went on an 8-0 run to take the lead 11-4.

The teams traded baskets but Curry continued to distance themselves, attaining a lead of nine points five times throughout the half. Senior Tim Flanagan (Providence, R.I.) ended the scoring by making both of his shots from the charity stripe to put the score at 30-22 in favor of the Colonels at the half.

Pina ended up leading the game with 11 first half points for Curry and was followed by Flanagan and freshman Alex Paul (Brooklyn, N.Y.) who each scored six in the first half. Pina, Paul and junior Trey Jones (Mattapan, Mass.) all pulled down five total rebounds as well.

Junior Tom Nason (Milton, N.H.) led UNE with four points and a host of Nor'easters followed with two and one point scored. Sophomore classmates Drew Coveney (Londonderry, N.H.) and Gavin Dibble (Greenport, N.Y.) along with freshman Drew Patno (Lunenburg, Mass.) all grabbed four rebounds, a team-high for UNE.

The Colonels held onto the lead over the first six minutes of the second half before senior Devin Thompson (Winthrop, Mass.) made a layup to take back the lead for the Nor'easters.

From that point, the two teams traded baskets and Preziosi put Curry up by three points with 10:28 with a layup. UNE battled back to take the lead again, this time only by two points by a score of 47-45. Over the last six minutes, the Nor'easters continued to distance themselves despite trading baskets as the Colonels continued to foul to send UNE to the foul-line to push the final score to 65-57.

Pina finished with 24 points leading the game while adding a team-high eight rebounds as well. Preziosi also finished with double digits, scoring ten and pulling five boards. Paul tied Pina's effort on the glass, grabbing eight as well, and chipped in eight points as well. Flanagan was right behind both of them with seven total rebounds and added eight points on top of it.

Thompson led the Nor'easters with 20 points and Dibble led the game with 13 total rebounds while adding six points. Junior CJ Autry (Standish, Maine) was right behind with nine boards and chipped in with four points.

Both teams return to conference action Wednesday night as the Colonels return to host Western New England for a 5:30 start and UNE hosts Endicott College for a 7:30 tip-off.