Henniker, N.H. – New England College forward Joe Faragher (N. Ridgeville, Ohio) finished with a team-high 14 points and seven rebounds helping to lead the Pilgrims past the visiting UMaine Presque Isle Owls 88-84 Friday evening. With the win the Pilgrims improve to 2-1 on the season, while the Owls fall to 0-1.

New England College would jump out to an early ten point lead up 23-13 just seven minutes into the game.  The Pilgrims would continue to have the hot hand on offense as they shot an impressive 60% from the field and 60% from the three-point arc in the opening half building a 24 point lead heading into halftime.

The Pilgrims would go up 27 early in the second half but the Owls would use a 9-0 run to cut the NEC lead to 18.  The Owls would continue to chip away throughout the second as they would shoot 11-for-13 from the foul line trailing just four heading into the final two minutes of play.

An Owl layup by Kyle Corrigan (Caribou, Maine) with 24 seconds on the clock would cut the Pilgrims lead to just one.  NEC would battle off the late surge as they would hit three foul shots in the final 11 seconds to solidify the 88-84 victory.

NEC’s Eric Lenahan (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) finished with 13 points and Sophomore Spenzer Marzouk (Greensboro, N.C.) chipped in 12 points for the Pilgrims.

Leading the way for UMPI was Devon Peaslee (Woolwich, Maine) who finished with a game-high 23 points including an impressive 11-13 from the foul line.  UMPI’s Ray Mitchell (Cleveland, Ohio) finished with 18 points and Chris Coffin (Presque Isle, Maine) had 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

The Owls return to action on Saturday, November 21 in the 1:00 pm consolation game at the NEC tournament; UMPI looks to take on Suffolk University.