WESTFIELD, Mass. – Senior guard Austin Coene (Tyngsborough, Mass.) scored 29 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead Roger Williams University to a 70-63 win over Westfield State University in a non-conference men's basketball game at the Woodward Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Hawks used a 15-8 run over the last six minutes of the first half to lead 37-30 at the half.
Westfield sawed away at the lead throughout the early stages of the second half, finally tying the game at 48-all on a pair of free throws from Marcus Collins with 9:56 to play.
Roger Williams built the lead back to seven, 60-53 on a Coene drive with 5:11 left in the game.
Westfield got the lead down to five points, 66-61 on a Peter Mafo (Lynn Classical/Lynn, Mass.) three-pointer with a minute left in the game, but could get no closer.
Roger Williams shot 51 percent from the floor in the first half and 44.8 percent for the game, and connected on 14 of 19 free throws.
The Haws got 16 points and seven rebounds from JJ Pfohl (Trumbull, Conn.), and 10 points and seven rebounds from Drew Hart (Cheshire, Conn.).
Westfield finished shooting 32.9 percent from the floor, and just 13-23 (56.5 percent from the line).
Jauch Green, Jr. (Cromwell/Hartford, Conn.) finished with 19 points, and 13 rebounds for the Owls. Senior forward Marcus Collins (Rindge and Latin/Cambridge, Mass.) added 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Malik Pouncy (Springfield Commonwealth Acad/Mattapan, Mass.) finished with 13 points and four rebounds. Chris Prophet finished with eight assists to just one turnover.
Westfield finishes non-conference play with a 7-6 record. They will be idle until the Owls begin conference play on January 5, hosting MCLA as a part of a doubleheader with the Owl women.