NEWPORT, R.I. - Sophomore forward Chima Ezeigbo [Roanoke, Va.] had more points (26) than minutes played (25) as he led Eastern Nazarene College to a 78-63 win against Salve Regina University in The Commonwealth Coast Conference action at the Rodgers Recreation Center.

The visitors quickly built a 10-point lead just over six minutes into the game, and led 14-4 when freshman guard Aaron Johnson [Boston, Mass.] hit his first of three 3-pointers.

Sophomore Neal Manaskie [Willington, Conn.] came off the bench during a 15-1 Salve Regina run and connected on back-to-back 3-pointers for a 19-14 Seahawk lead with 10:36 to go in the first half. After Manaskie subbed out, Johnson hit his second 3-pointer before assisting on an old-fashioned three-point play by sophomore center Richard Lively [Pembroke, Mass.] that gave Eastern Nazarene (6-18; 4-8 TCCC) the lead for the rest of the game.

Despite struggling with one of his poorest shooting performances of the season, Seahawk senior guard Jabreche Boyd [West Haven, Conn] managed to score 15 points. The league's leading scorer made a layup on the first possession of the second half to cut the Seahawk deficit to six (32-26).

The Lions went on a 13-2 run to build their largest lead of the game. A layup by Ezeigbo made the score 45-28 with 15:43 remaining.

Another Boyd layup was followed by a pair of layups from sophomore forward Austin Hall [Coventry, Conn.] and Salve Regina was within 11 points (45-34) with 12:43 remaining. Trailing 51-36 with 11:07 remaining, Salve Regina went on an 18-6 run with Boyd hitting his only 3-pointer (11 misfires) during that five-minute stretch. A Manaskie free throw pulled Salve Regina within three, 57-54, but Eastern Nazarene followed with its own 12-2 run to put its lead into double-digits again.

Lively finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Johnson added 13 points and freshman guard Max Barbosa [Dorchester, Mass.] scored 11 points in the win. Hall led Salve Regina with 16 points and junior point guard Ryan Birrell [Hope, R.I.] chipped in a dozen points.

Both teams finish out their schedules on Saturday with no hope for TCCC postseason play. Salve Regina (4-20; 3-9 TCCC) plays at top-seeded Gordon College while Eastern Nazarene hosts Roger Williams University.