Box Score MILTON, Mass. – Playing in the final New England College athletic contest of the 2023 calendar year, the NEC men's basketball team lost 89-81 at Curry College on Saturday afternoon at Katz Gymnasium in Milton, Massachusetts in non-conference action.

THE BASICS
Score:                    New England College 81, Curry 89
Records:               Pilgrims 3-9, 1-1 GNAC | Colonels 6-4, 0-3 CCC

TURNING POINTS

• Down by as much as 24 in the opening minutes of the second half, the Pilgrims of NEC rallied in the final two minutes of the game, using an 11-3 run to pull to within six on a pair of free throws from graduate guard Jayden McGrew (Garland, Tex.). But a dunk by Curry freshman forward Ebube Agbaji (Toronto, Ontario) proved to be the exclamation point the Colonels needed to put the game away.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• NEC freshman guard Shawn O'Keefe (Salem, Mass.) exploded off the bench for a career-high 18 points with six rebounds in just 22 minutes for the 'Grims, shooting eight-of-eleven from the floor. O'Keefe scored more points against the Colonels then he had in his entire collegiate career combined up to that point.
• The Colonels dominated from behind the arc, shooting 59.3 percent on three-pointers, led by Curry sophomore guard James Scali (Newburyport, Mass.), who shot five-of-seven from downtown to finish with a game-high 19 points.
• NEC senior guard Kyle Inglis (Burlington, Mass.) broke out with 14 points and five boards.
• NEC sophomore guard Junior Efosa (Haverhill, Mass.) finished with ten points, cracking double-digits for the fourth straight game.

UP NEXT

• Up next for NEC, the team returns to Henniker on Wednesday when they host former New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) rival Eastern Nazarene College in a 3:00 p.m. game.
• Curry hosts Suffolk University on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

For continuing coverage of New England College Athletics, visit athletics.nec.edu and follow the Pilgrims on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.