NEW LONDON, N.H. – February 10, 2018 – The Colby-Sawyer men's basketball team was edged by New England College, 82-79, in North Atlantic Conference (NAC) action on Saturday afternoon.   

NEC improves to 17-6 overall and 13-3 in the NAC. The Pilgrims host Johnson on Thursday. Colby-Sawyer drops to 14-8 overall and 11-5 in conference action. The Chargers host Lyndon on Thursday.

Prior to today's game, Colby-Sawyer recognized its four seniors for their years of dedication to the men's basketball program. The seniors are Greg Breen (Boston, Mass.), Taylor Grande (Bedford, N.H.), Matt Maynard (Shelburne, Vt.), and Evyn Nolette (Sanford, Maine).

NEC received a game best 28 points from Izaiah Winston-Brooks (Roxbury, Mass.). He shot 8-of-16 from the floor and made 12-of-15 from the free throw line. Calvin Cheek (Mattapan, Mass.), the nation's leader in steals added 11 more to his total today to go along with 19 points. Junior Rickey Leonard (Windsor, Conn.) contributed 14 points, while junior Jason Jones (Roxbury, Mass.) grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

Junior Jourdain Bell (Manchester, N.H.) led the Chargers with 21 points. Sophomore Dana Bean (Franklin, N.H.) added 17 points and four blocks to move into sole possession of ninth place with 56 career blocks. Sophomore Patrick Coffey (Westford, Mass.) chipped in with 12 points. Grande finished with eight points, a career-high 12 assists and two steals. He moved into fifth place in career steals with 163 and eighth place in career assists with 370. The 12 helpers today is the fifth most in a single-game in program history.   

NEC began the game with five quick points, but Greg Breen responded with five points of his own to bring the Chargers even. The Pilgrims then began to build a lead, which grew to as much as 15 points after a Leonard trey at 5:06. Freshman Austin Boudreau (Old Orchard Beach, Maine) hit a trey for the final basket of the first half to bring the Chargers to within 12. Each team shot 43% in the first half, but NEC turned 13 Colby-Sawyer miscues into 16 points to lead 44-32 at the half. Winston-Brooks scored 15 points on 6-of-7 in the first 20 minutes.

The visitors pushed their lead to 17 early in the second half, but Colby-Sawyer slowly clawed back. Trailing 56-41 five minutes into the frame, the Chargers used a 17-5 run capped by a Dana Bean layup to make the game one possession at 61-58 with 8:54 to play. Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Chargers could get as NEC made their free throws down the stretch to secure the 82-79 road win.

The Chargers shot 50% from the floor, but NEC made up the ground by making 23-of-28 free throw attempts (82.1%). Each team had 38 rebounds. 

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