NEW LONDON, N.H. – February 14, 2009 – The Colby-Sawyer men's basketball team dropped a hard fought battle to the University of New England, 81-72, in front of a packed house at the Hogan Sports Center, Saturday afternoon. The No. 10 regionally ranked Nor'easters extend their winning streak to 19 games and improve to 20-3 overall and a perfect 11-0 in TCCC action. The Chargers, whose five game winning-streak came to an end, fall to 17-5 and 9-2 within the conference.
The Nor'easters led for the majority of the first half behind the shooting of Johnnie Jefferson (Dallas, Texas), who registered 10 points. The Chargers kept pace with the top team in the conference, as Jon Chaloux (Barre, Vt.) score 12 points of his own.
With two minutes left, Jefferson hit a three-pointer to give the Nor'easters their biggest lead of the half, 37-29. Facing a large deficit heading into the locker room, the Chargers stepped up their play during the final minutes of the first stanza, finishing with a 9-2 run. Leading the Chargers comeback was Andrew Ferreira (New London, N.H.), as he knocked down five of six free-throws. After a turnover, senior Matt Lemieux (Manchester, N.H.) hit a jumper as the buzzer sounded, closing the deficit to one, at 39-38.
In the opening minutes of the second half, Colby-Sawyer gained their first lead of the game since the 16:10 mark of the first half. Freshman Will Bardaglio (Wayne, Maine) hit a three-pointer, putting the team ahead, 45-44.
The Chargers played strongly, building a six-point lead, but the Nor'easters stormed right back gaining the lead on Ryan Knotek's (Saratoga Spring, N.Y.) only bucket of the game. Knotek's three-pointer at the 8:23 mark put UNE up 60-59. Colby-Sawyer battled down the stretch, but was unable to complete the comeback, as the Nor'easters went on to the 81-72 victory.
Chaloux had a game high 20 points; marking the third time in his last four games he has registered at least 20 points. David Rosso (Wilmington, Vt.) scored 11 points, while both Duncan Szeliga (Newmarket, N.H.) and Andrew Cousins (South Portland, Maine) scored eight. Lemieux finished with seven points, five rebounds, and four assists.
For the Nor'easters, Quentin Thompson (Austin, Texas) led the team with 19 points and nine rebounds. Senior co-captain Jaykyri Simpson (East Cleburne) scored 16 points, and Jefferson finished with 12.
The Chargers will look to get back on the winning track, when they host Wentworth, for Senior Night, on Wednesday, February 18, at 7:30 p.m.
