Leopards leap past Seahawks with dominant second half

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NEWPORT, R.I. (February 25, 2020) - Wentworth Institute of Technology men's basketball trailed by eight at the half (42-34) before opening the second half on an historic 35-1 run to knock out Salve Regina University in first round of the 2020 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championships at the Rodgers Recreation Center.

The fifth-seeded Leopards (16-10) advance to face top-seeded Endicott College on Thursday. Salve Regina (12-14) had earned the fourth seed with its win over Wentworth last Saturday, and a critical tiebreak included the Seahawks' win against the Gulls on February 11.

Salve Regina junior Cameron Collins (Oakdale, Conn.) became the 20th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point milestone, and only the second to do so before his senior year. He led all players with 14 first-half points that helped erase a 13-2 deficit to start the game. Trey Carrier (Wilton, N.H.) scored seven of the Leopards' first 13 points. Kevin Fernandez (Lawrence, Mass.) and Tyler Lennon (Atkinson, N.H.) each had a trey in the first three minutes.

Seahawk senior Andrew Bronstein (Needham, Mass.) started a 17-6 run with a layup at 15:00 in the first, and Salve Regina tied the score at 19-all on Mikey Spencer's (Abington, Mass.) 3-pointer less than five minutes later.

After Lennon hit another 3-pointer (6:40) for a four-point lead (28-24), the Seahawks went on a 16-2 run with 11 points coming from Number 11 - Collins. Patrick Williamson (Huntington, N.Y.) came off the bench to contribute a long shot and a short jumper in the paint.

The 35-1 run for Wentworth included eight free throws, three 3-pointers (one each from Carrier, Fernandez, and Lennon), and eight layups. Noah Bice (Woodacre, Calif.) accounted for the only points that did not come from either inside the paint, behind the arc, or at the charity stripe, with his jumper at 11:53. The Leopards erased an eight-point deficit and led by 26 (69-43) after 10:11 elapsed in the second half.

Salve Regina got as close as 15 with its 13-2 run that Spencer started with a trey at 9:19. CCC Scholar Athlete Tyler Benjamin (Fitchburg, Mass.) made all three free throws after getting fouled in the act of shooting a triple. Williams added another short jumper and Collins converted a turnover into a dunk.

Seven of the last 18 points for Wentworth came from the free throw line.

Carrier and Lennon led four Leopards in double figures with 18 points apiece; Fernandez finished with 16 and Bice added 15 points. Collins' 17 points topped the Seahawks who also got 16 from Spencer.

Salve Regina shot only 23.1 percent in the second half after making 16 of 32 in the first (50.0 percent). Wentworth went from 48.1 percent (13 of 27) in the first to 66.7 percent (18 of 27) in the final 20 minutes.