PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Freshman Omar Grullon scored a career-high 23 points for the JWU (Providence) men's basketball team in a 79-68 loss to the University of New England Saturday afternoon in Conference of New England (CNE) action at the Wildcat Center.

Grullon went 9-of-19 from the field and converted a pair of triples to go with three boards and three assist for the Wildcats (1-15, 0-7 CNE), who were outrebounded 42-36 and shot 41 percent from the field.

Graduate student Silas Sawtelle finished with 18 points in 27 minutes of action while classmate Dylan Hooter racked up a double-double with 10 points and 12 boards in 38 minutes. Freshman De'Angelo Owens netted 10 points and four steals.

JWU trailed by nine at the half (39-30) despite forcing 10 turnovers. Grullon and Sawtelle each tallied nine first-half points while Jayden Thornton paced the visitors with 12.

The Nor'easters (7-8, 3-3 CNE) stretched their lead to 14 less than five minutes into the second half. The Wildcats clawed to within eight on a few occasions before a 12-3 UNE run pushed the lead to 17 points with 3:12 on the clock.

Thornton finished with a game-high 27 on 10-of-19 shooting for the Nor'easters.