HENNIKER, NH The New England College Men's Basketball team's comeback effort fell short as they dropped their final game of the year 68-66 win over the Lions of Eastern Nazarene College.

With the win, the Pilgrims finish the season at 6-4, while the Lions move to 3-3.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Lions opened up the scoring with an early three-point shot but the Pilgrims were quick to respond. After the early deficit, New England College gained some momentum and pushed out to a 13-5 lead. Momentum then shifted to Eastern Nazarene as they went on an 11-1 run to claim the lead at 16-14 halfway through the first period of play. The Lions stayed ahead for the remainder of the half and were able to extend their lead to 32-22 going into the break.

Not much changed in the second half as Eastern Nazarene held their lead and responded each time the Pilgrims scored. New England College was persistent but the Lions were able to hold onto the lead as they found themselves up 59-49 with five minutes to play. From the Pilgrims started to chip away at the lead as they closed the gap to 64-58 with just over a minute left in the game. New England College then scored the next five points off a jump shot from Jamal Allen and a three-point play from Stephen Fama, as they pulled within one at 64-63 with 39 seconds remaining. The rest of the game was a back and forth of foul shots and timeouts with Eastern Nazarene able to stay just ahead. The Lions hit a foul shot with three seconds remaining to go up 68-66 and the Pilgrims took a desperation shot from half-court but were unable to connect as the game ended.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

-Stephen Fama led all scorers with 17 points and added four rebounds in the contest.

-Deven Okowuga had a double-double as he pulled down 10 rebounds and put in 13 points.

-Calvin Cheek had 10 points as he eclipsed the 1,000-point career mark to become the 19th player to do so in program history. He also had five steals in possibly his last collegiate contest. He now has 444 career steals good enough for second all-time across all divisions within the NCAA.

-After today's contest, the all-time series now stands at 25-15 in favor of Eastern Nazarene.

-This is the first time the Pilgrims have lost to the Lions at home since November of 2016.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Pilgrims season has come to a close and they will not play again until the start of the 2021-22 season.