NASHUA, N.H. – All five starters reached double figures led by a season-high 27 points from Daris Cosby (Utica, N.Y.) as the Daniel Webster men's basketball team clinched a postseason berth for the eighth straight season with a 77-69 victory over Lesley Wednesday night at Mario Vagge Gymnasium.
Cosby went 11 of 18 from the field and drained four three pointers as the Eagles (14-8, 7-6) eliminated the Lynx (5-16, 3-10) from contention gaining a four-game lead over Lesley with three conference games remaining for each squad.
Kevin Perez (Nashua) registered 16 points while Ray Farmer (Nashua) notched 13 with a team-best seven rebounds and game-high of six assists. Ryan Gauthier (Nashua) tallied 11 points with four assists and Aiden Collins (Paterson, N.J.) provided a big spark with 10 points and six boards, going 5 of 6 from the field.
Trevonn Lewis (Chicago, Ill.) led the Lynx with 17 points while Justin Rosa (East Brunswick, N.J.) notched 15 to go with four assists and four steals, and Nikalus Oliver (Pembroke Pines Fla.) tallied 13 with seven rebounds. Kris Bennett (Inglewood, Cal.) flirted with a double-double finishing with eight points and a game-high 11 caroms. Mike Kaufman (Boca Raton, Fla.) chipped in with eight points in the loss.
The teams worked inside all night, combining for 90 points in the paint (50-40, DWC) leading to a relatively low rebounding output (33-28, Lesley) and the teams combined for just 16 total offensive rebounds (eight each).
Both teams shot the ball well as the Lynx hit on 50-percent in the opening frame and improved to 59-percent in the second, but DWC was red hot in the second half, finishing a season-best 67-percent for one period after hitting 40-percent in the opening stanza.
The hosts took a two-point lead into the half and opened the second on a 13-5 tear to open a 10-point lead, 43-32, after consecutive layups from Gauthier, Cosby and Perez. But Lesley answered with an 18-7 run over the next three and half minutes to grab the lead at 48-47 on an Oliver layup at the 10:32 marker.
Later tied at 52, Collins, Perez and Gauthier all converted inside while Lesley missed on three possessions to push the hosts lead out to six (58-52) with 6:34 to play.
A Branden Padgett (New Baltimore, Mich.) layup with 4:57 left would pull the Lynx back to within four, 60-56,but Cosby nailed a big three from the right corner and Collins went to work inside converting two tough layups and the lead swelled to 11 with 3:09 on the clock.
An Oliver layup and a trey from Lewis pulled Lesley's deficit back to 70-64 with 2:19 to go, but Cosby nailed another from deep with 1:31 to ice it.
The Eagles are off until Saturday when they visit Becker for a 1:00 p.m. NECC matchup. Lesley hosts Salem State in a non-conference affair on Thursday at 8:00 p.m.