Wentworth defeats Salve Regina, 80-66

NEWPORT, R.I. - Junior guard Ray Bessette (Dedham, Maine) scored a game-high 22 points to lead visiting Wentworth Institute of Technology to an 80-66 victory over Salve Regina University in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball action at the Rodgers Recreation Center.

Derek Mayo (Casco, Maine), Cam Sennick (Wilton, Maine), and Nico Donato (Glastonbury, Conn.) gave Wentworth an early 6-0 lead with layups in the first two and a half minutes. Jeff Bielefeld (Littleton, Mass.) put Salve Regina on the board with his free throws at 16:50.

The visitors then engineered a 9-2 run for their first double-digit lead of the game, 15-4, with 13:26 left in the half. Again, Bielefeld was responsible for all four Seahawk points to that point.

Senior co-captain Joshua Hohlfelder (Noank, Conn.) came off the bench to spark a 19-2 run for the Seahawks. His layup and 3-pointer sandwiched around a Bielefeld layup cut the deficit to four points, 15-11, at 11:24.

Junior Eric MacKinnon (South Easton, Mass.) also came off the bench to score his career-high 13 points, all in the first half, on five of six shooting including three threes. His second 3-pointer at 7:34 gave Salve Regina its largest lead of the game, 23-17.

But Bessette made three 3-pointers in less than two minutes during an 11-2 run for Wentworth as the visitors regained the lead, 28-25. MacKinnon's final 3-pointer tied the game again and later Brenden Fowler's (No. Attleboro, Mass.) three-point play gave Salve Regina its last advantage, 31-29, with 2:58 to go in the half.

Bessette and Jherson Colon (Boston, Mass.) ended the first-half scoring with 3-pointers to put the Leopards up four at the break, 35-31.

The Leopards opened the second half with a 10-1 run with Bessette scoring the first five points and adding a three-point play at 16:38. The Leopard lead stayed in double-digits until a 14-6 run for the Seahawks was capped by a layup from Nicholas Bates (Danvers, Mass.) at 4:42, making the score 62-54 for Wentworth.

Mayo had two 3-pointers during a subsequent 14-2 run for Wentworth which raised its lead to 20 points, 76-56, into the final minute of play. Salve Regina's most-recent member of the 1,000-point club, Patrick Dinneen (Medfield, Mass.), scored two quick 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 14 but that would be the final margin.

Three other Leopards joined Bessette in double-figure scoring - Mayo (15), Colon (14), and JohnMichael Fragnoli (Scotia, N.Y.) with 11 points. Bielefeld led the Seahawks with 16 points and seven rebounds while Dinneen added 14 points and MacKinnon finished with 13 points.

Like last year, the teams split the season series winning on the other's home court.

Salve Regina hits the road this weekend to play at Nichols; the Seahawks beat the Bison at Rodgers Recreation Center earlier this month. Salve Regina returns home on Tuesday when it hosts Endicott. The Leopards return to Boston for a two-game home stand, first against Gordon on Saturday and then University of New England on Tuesday.