CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Lynx kept their New England Collegiate Conference postseason hopes alive with a thrilling 52-47 win over Daniel Webster College tonight at Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols. Reigning NECC Rookie of the Week, Anthony Mattocks (Sarasota, Fla.) carried the Lesley offense as he went 6-of-6 from the free throw line and 4-of-8 from the field on his way to a game-high 16 points. The Lynx improve to 7-15 on the year and 5-8 in the conference and remain on the heels of the Eagles, who fall to 10-13 and 6-8, for the final NECC postseason spot.
Sophomore Justin Rosa (East Brunswick, N.J.) was also big for Lesley tonight, dropping in 12 points to go with his six rebounds while playing the full 40 minutes. Freshman Nikalus Oliver (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) grabbed a team-high nine boards off the glass and finished with nine points on the night.
For the Eagles, senior forward John Hickson (Springfield, Mass.) shot his way to 12 points while junior David Feinstein (Londonderry, N.H.) went 2-of-4 from three-point range and finished with nine points. Senior Rufus Louf (Salem, Mass.) had eight points to go with his seven rebounds on the night.
The Lynx opened up the game with a 10-4 advantage in the first five minutes of play as Mattocks and Oliver each had four. The Eagles stayed on their heels and took their first lead five minutes later when Feinstein knocked down a three from the wing, giving DWC a 14-12 advantage.
The teams kept up the back-and-forth as Lesley buried three from downtown to spark a 9-2 run. Rosa, Mattocks, and junior Mike Kaufman (Boca Raton, Fla.) all were able to connect from deep to fuel the spurt. The Lynx kept that momentum and closed out the first half on a 7-2 run over the final four minutes and went into halftime with a 33-26 advantage.
In the second half, the Eagles full court pressure got them back into the game as they caused 11 Lesley turnovers. Trailing 41-32, DWC went on a 6-0 run to cut the Lynx advantage to just three with 5:21 left. Sophomore Hector Heredia (Lawrence, Mass.) had four of the Eagles points during the run.
From there, the Lynx would answer the bell from the free throw line as they would convert 11-of-14 over the final four minutes to cap a 52-47 win.
Lesley held a slight advantage on the boards, outrebounding the eagles by a 41-33 margin, the biggest perhaps coming as senior Kris Bennett (Inglewood, Calif.) grabbed one of the offensive glass on the back end of a one-and-one to keep possession and seal the victory.
The teams were nearly identical from the floor, both shooting 32% and knocking down four threes, but the Lynx went 18-of-22 from the charity stripe, while DWC was 7-of-9.
Due to the inclement weather expected this weekend, Lesley's games originally scheduled for Saturday has been moved to Monday, February 11th. The Lynx will travel to Newbury College for an 8:00p tip-off while the Eagles will host Elms on Wednesday February, 13th at 8:00p.