FRANKLIN, Mass. – January 10, 2024 – The Dean College men's basketball team earned a 77-64 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) home victory over New England College (NEC) on Wednesday inside Pieri Gymnasium.

The Bulldogs (6-8, 2-2 GNAC) play at Colby-Sawyer on Saturday at 1 p.m. NEC (4-11, 1-3 GNAC) travels to Lasell for a 4 p.m. tip.

Senior AJ Weston (Kansas City, Mo) notched his 1000th career point at the 5:19 mark of the first half. He has 628 points in his two years at Dean, averaging 17.9 points per game. Weston finished with a game best 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Senior Charles Walker (Princeton, N.C.) was next with 18 points, while senior Jayden Madise (Palmdale, Calif.) was the third Bulldog in double figures with 12 points.

NEC received 16 points off the bench from Kyle Inglis. Alex Williams registered a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds to go with five assists. Michael Hills contributed 11 points.

The first half featured five ties and five lead changes. The Pilgrims led by five points with less than 13 minutes to play after a pair of free throws from Junior Efosa. Dean later took a six-point advantage on a Weston jumper with less than five minutes to go in the half. The Bulldogs took that lead into the break, 40-34. Dean scored 26 points in the paint, while NEC outrebounded the home team 23-19. Walker led all players with 12 points in the half.

Dean did not relinquish the lead in the second half, which eventually ballooned to 20 points (69-49) on a pair of Walker free throws with 6:14 left. NEC made a run to cut the deficit to seven but ran out of time as Dean pulled away late for the 77-64 victory.