Springfield, Mass. – November 8, 2024 – The Springfield College men's basketball team was edged in its season opener by a 76-75 decision to visiting Western New England on Friday night in Blake Arena.

In his Springfield debut, Jarron Flynn (Roslindale, Mass.) was sensational as he poured in 24 points on 11-of-12 shooting to go along with six rebounds, five assists, and three steals.  Xoren Livingston (Wayland, Mass.) added 17 points and Curtiss Blische (Barkhamstad, Conn.) tallied 10 points and six rebounds.  The Pride finished the game shooting 45% from the floor, but had three players foul out as it was whistled for 24 fouls, resulting in 19 points from the charity stripe for the visitors.

Zander Robinson (East Hartford, Conn.) drilled a corner three at the 12:41 mark of the first half to give Springfield a double-digit lead at 23-13.  The hosts lead would grow to 29-16 with 9:23 on the clock after Flynn swiped a steal and finished in transition. However, over the next five-plus minutes, the Golden Bears would manufacture an 11-5 push to pull within 32-27 and force the Pride into a timeout following an inside finish by Tim Restall. The visitors would make it a one-score game with under 90 seconds left in the half when Luka Vlajkovic scored in the paint, but Springfield would close out the stanza with a 7-0 surge, capped off by a transition dunk by Flynn to send the hosts into the half with a 42-33 advantage.
 
Just under five minutes into the second half, Flynn would again get out in transition to hammer home a dunk to push the lead to 50-37.  However, WNE would mount a 9-2 burst in under three minutes as Springfield called for a timeout at 11:16 with its lead trimmed to 52-46.  The visitors would eventually take a 55-54 lead when Restall put back his own miss at 8:28, but Springfield would use a 12-5 surge in a 2:47 span to regain a 71-65 lead when Livingston drilled a pull up jumper from the wing.  The teams would go back and forth, with Hunter Matteson (Dartmouth, Mass.) finishing a tremendous feed from Flynn with 29 seconds remaining to give Springfield a 75-74 advantage.  However, Springfield was called for a foul the next time down the floor and Restall cashed in on two free throws for what would proved to be the game-winning points with 10 seconds to play.  Springfield was unable to finish its last second attempt at the rim as WNE held on for the 76-75 win.

 On Tuesday, Springfield will travel to New York City to take on Yeshiva. 

For the latest on Springfield College Athletics, follow the Pride on social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.  Be sure to tune into all Springfield College Athletic events by subscribing to FloSports.