Hawks Sail Past Mariners

Leicester, Mass. - Becker College Hawks defeated the Mariners of Mitchell College, 76-48 tonight in New England Collegiate Conference men's basketball action. The Hawks improve to 13-8 (9-1 NECC) while the Mariners drop to 3-16 (2-8 NECC).

Becker took a ten point 35-25 halftime advantage into the locker room. The Mariners were only down by 5 points with 8:45 to play when Julio Contreras (Boca Raton, Fla.) hit a jumper just in the paint but the Hawks went on a 12-7 run down the stretch for the lead. The Hawks out rebounded the Mariners 23-12 and hit a blistering 57% from the field. Junior Drew Norris (Wilson, NC) led the Mariners with 15 points while Rajai Leggett (New Haven, Conn.) and Trey Jacobs (Lexington Park, MD) paced the Hawks with ten apiece in the first 20 minutes.

The Hawks continued their dominance in the second half as they built a 16 point lead, 41-25 just two minutes in when Mudia Osewegie (Roselle, NJ) hit back to back baskets after a Mitchell turnover and they cruised the rest of the way for the win.

Four Hawks players ended the night in double figures, Leggett (11 points), Osewegie (12 points), Jacobs (12 points) and junior Matt Petrides (Belchertown, Mass.) had 12 points off the bench. Leggett also had a game high 9 rebounds.

The Mariners were led by Contreras' 13 points and Mike DePaolo (Asbury, NJ) chipped in 8 points.

The Hawks finished the game shooting 59.3% and held the rebound advantage 40-22.

The Hawks return to action on Saturday to face Lesley University now at home at 3:00 pm