NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's basketball team ended the year that was 2019 with an 83-54 loss to Wentworth Institute of Technology on Tuesday afternoon at Andrews Gym.

Norwich (2-8) and Wentworth (8-3) were involved in a back-and-forth battle in the early going with the Cadets trailing 8-6 following a nice passing play down low as sophomore forward Donovan Lewis Jr. (Savannah, Ga.) found a cutting Jordan Hunt (Alexandria, Va.) for an easy layup.

Back-to-back three-pointers for the visitors built up a 14-6 lead that they were able to hold throughout the middle of the opening stanza.

After trailing 22-12 with 10:08 to go in the first half, a pair of triples from senior forward Dan Bertrand (Saugus, Mass.) sandwiched around a jumper from senior forward Josh Dumay (Framingham, Mass.) helped cut the deficit to 24-20 with 8:32 left to play.

Eight points from Wentworth's Kevin Fernandez during a 16-9 run boosted the visitors' lead to 40-29 with just over two minutes to play in the half. However, the Cadets' Dumay converted an and-one at the end of the half to cut the lead to eight at 40-32 heading into halftime.

The Cadets continued to press but were unable to cut the lead any closer in the second half. A 22-5 run over the course of seven and a half minutes by Wentworth following a fast-break dunk by NU's Dumay put the game out of reach.

Norwich drifted away from its success scoring in the paint in the first half notching just 10 points there in the second period as the team searched for long-range shots in an attempt to cut the lead. Conversely, the Leopards went from scoring just 12 points down low in the first half to doubling the Cadets' output in the second half with 20 points in the paint.

The depth of the visitors' bench played a major factor as the Leopards' reserves outscored the Cadets' 38-23. Noah Brice led the charge for Wentworth with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. Of the Cadets' 23 bench points, 14 came from Dumay which was a career-high. His presence was felt on the defensive end as well as he posted two blocks and two steals.

Fernandez led all scorers with 18 points for the Leopards while adding four steals. Stephen Azums notched 14 points, a game-high seven rebounds, and three blocks.

Junior forward Kyle Booth (Northfield, Vt.) posted team-highs in points (16), rebounds (6) and blocks (3) in a fine all-around effort. Freshman guard Benjamin Mitchell (Pooler, Ga.) scored seven off the bench for the Cadets.

Norwich will open up the New Year with a road game at Elms on January 2nd with the tip slated for 5 p.m.