With the victory, the Colonials captured a share of the Little East Conference regular-season title with Rhode Island College, who defeated Keene State, 79-70 in overtime in Providence on Saturday.
Against the Panthers, Western connected on 22 of 33 shots from the floor in the second half as it came back from a six-point halftime deficit, 31-25. Plymouth actually led by as many as 12 points in the first stanza when Nick Pelotte (Bingham, ME) drilled a deep three pointer. He finished with 23 points on the afternoon.
The lead changed hands seven times midway through the second half before took a 53-52 lead on a dunk by Brice Assie (Bridgeport, CT) with 12:05 remaining.
From there, WestConn built a six-point lead, 62-56 on a three pointer by Jay Reginatto (Torrington, CT) just two minutes later.
The Panthers would not roll over for the Colonials as they went on a 8-0 run to take a 64-62 lead on another bucket beyond the arch by Pelotte.
It would take two more deadlocks before Western broke away from Plymouth’s high-powered offense.
A dunk with 31 seconds left in the game by Greg Cole (Terrytown, NY) gave Western a 12-point lead, it’s biggest of the game, 87-75.
Assie led the Colonials, now 20-4 overall and 10-4 in league action, with a monster game of 23 points and 18 rebounds.
Cole added 20 points, all coming after intermission.
Five Colonials reached double figures in scoring including Reginatto’s 19 markers. He also dished out a game-high seven assists.
Andreas Pope (Brooklyn, NY) added a team-high 24 points and 12 boards for the Panthers, which finish in third place in the conference with a 9-5 mark. They are now 17-8 overall.
Saturday’s win marked the 11th time Head Coach Bob Campbell has led the Colonials to 20 or more wins during his 21-year tenure.
Western will play host to Eastern Connecticut in the Little East Conference Tournament at the O’Neill Center on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. Other LEC first-round pairing include: Southern Maine at Rhode Island College, UMass Boston traveling to Plymouth State and UMass Dartmouth visiting Keene State College.