DeCesar, the conference player of the week, lifted the Pride (15-5, 5-2 NEWMAC) to its fifth victory in six contests. Junior guard Derek Yvon (East Longmeadow, Mass.) scored 13 points, and junior forward Joel Aponte (Windsor, Conn.) added 11 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Jason O’Tash (Alfred, Maine) came off the bench to score 12 points.
For the Engineers (9-9, 3-5 NEWMAC), junior guard Mike D’Auria (Newton, Mass.) had a game-high 19 points, and freshman guard Will Mroz (Evergreen, Colo.) added 14 points.
The Pride, which held a 33-31 lead at halftime, opened the second half with a 20-9 run over the first 10:23 to stretch its advantage to 53-40 with 9:37 left. Sophomore guard Damian Farley (Natick, Mass.), who had eight points tonight, scored the last four points of the run. SC held a 59-48 lead with 6:01 remaining when Yvon drilled a three-pointer, then scored on a lay-up to give the Pride a 16-point cushion (64-48) with 5:11 left. Aponte hit a three-pointer with 4:18 to play to make it 67-48.