BOX SCORE

WORCESTER, Mass. - December 12, 2010 - The Colby-Sawyer men's basketball team fell to Buffalo State, 79-76 in the championship game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Holiday Classic hosted by Worcester State. The Chargers wrap up the first semester with a 4-5 record, while the Bengals improve to 6-2.

Junior Will Bardaglio led all players with 23 points on 7-13 shooting. All seven makes were from beyond the three-point arc. Freshman John Roberts had an efficient game with 18 points on 5-6 shooting from the floor and was 8-9 from the charity stripe. Junior James Tobin was the third Charger in double-figures with 10 points. He added six rebounds.

Both teams shot over 45 percent from the field. The Chargers held a slight edge in the rebounding column (39-34) while the two squads were even off the offensive glass (12-12). Buffalo State scored more points in the paint (40-32), off of turnovers (21-11) and in transition (10-4).

There were five lead changes and a trio of ties before Buffalo State went on a 10-0 run midway through the period for the 25-15 edge with 9:42 left. Colby-Sawyer would trim the lead to 36-31 at the 3:06 mark on a trey by Bardaglio, but the Bengals would score four of the games last six points for the 40-33 lead at the halftime break.

With the hot hand of Bardaglio who nailed a pair of three pointers, the Chargers opened the second stanza with a 9-0 spurt to trail go up by two, just four minutes into the period (42-40).

But Buffalo State regained their composure and knotted the score on a basket by Simmons in what would be a 9-0 run as they led 49-42 at the 13:00 minute mark.

Colby-Sawyer would get back into the game by outscoring the Bengals 10-2 over the next two minutes of play to take a one point lead on a traditional three-point play by Roberts (51-50).

The crowd would then see two more lead changes and a pair of ties before Buffalo State emerged with the 63-60 edge on a trey by Jake Simmons. Colby-Sawyer got within one twice over the next 90 seconds on a pair of free throws by sophomore Corey Willis and Roberts, before the Bengals went on a 9-2 run for the 74-66 lead with 2:55 remaining.

The Bengals held on as the Chargers wouldn't be able to get a play off in time to knot the score following a missed free throw for the final score.

All-Tournament Team
#22 Juan Averio - Elms
#42 Monte Goodwin - Worcester State
#11 Will Bardaglio - Colby-Sawyer
#30 Chris Cartwright - Buffalo State
#42 Jake Simmons - Buffalo State - MVP

---Worcester St. sports info