Chargers Top Monks in Season Opener, 111-97

Chargers Top Monks in Season Opener, 111-97
Posted: Nov 09, 2019

NEW LONDON, N.H. – The Colby-Sawyer College men's basketball team opened the 2019-20 campaign in grand fashion with a 111-97 victory over Saint Joseph's College of Maine.

The 111 points is a program record for most points in a season opener. Today's game did not count towards the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) standings. The two teams will meet again in Standish, Maine on Jan. 21 for a conference battle.

Colby-Sawyer is 1-0 and will begin a lengthy road trip next weekend with a tournament at Williams. The Chargers will play five games away from New London to close out the month of November. Saint Joseph's is 0-1 and will play at Thomas on Tuesday evening with a 7 p.m. tip.

Senior Dana Bean (Franklin, N.H.) led six Chargers in double figures with 20 points on 10-16 shooting. The center also corralled eight rebounds to move into a tie with Mike Dias '15 for fifth on the all-time list with 702. Senior Patrick Coffey (Westford, Mass.) was 9-14 for 19 points to go with six assists. Omar Boone (Colorado City, Texas) poured in 17 and Jake Lorman (Rutland, Vt.) tallied 15 in their collegiate debuts. Sophomore Terrence Harvey Jr. (Smyrna, Ga.) and junior KJ Synvrit (Miami, Fla.) added 10 apiece.

St. Joe's was led by junior Jack Casale (Portland, Maine) who was second in the GNAC in scoring last season at 24.1 ppg. Casale scored a game best 23 points on 9-18 shooting in today's contest. Sophomore Nicholas Curtis (Windham, Mass.) played all 40 minutes and shot 8-13 to finish with 22 points. Sophomore Griffin Foley (Portland, Maine) contributed 20 points on 7-10 shooting, while junior Tatsuaki Sakai (Ishikawa, Japan) registered eight assists.

The game was played a frenetic pace as each team shot the ball extremely well. The first 10 minutes of the contest was back-and-forth with 14 lead changes and seven ties. The Monks took a 27-26 lead after a Foley layup, but Colby-Sawyer responded on the next trip down the floor with an Omar Boone layup for a 28-27 lead. The home team pushed its advantage to nine with 7:55 to play after a jumper from Jake Lorman.

The Monks chipped away and eventually took a 45-43 lead on a Zac Manoogian (Westbrook, Maine) trey. Colby-Sawyer answered with a strong finish to the half and took a 58-49 lead when Lorman hit a running three-pointer at the buzzer.

St. Joe's scored three buckets out of the halftime break to pull within three, but a Dana Bean dunk ignited the crowd and gave the Chargers the momentum.

The Colby-Sawyer lead ballooned to 15 with 8:20 on the clock after a Synvrit layup. The Chargers held the double-digit lead the rest of the way to take the season opener 111-97.

The Chargers finished with a 56.8% shooting mark while St. Joe's was 53.7% from the floor. Colby-Sawyer outrebounded the Monks 44-23.

 

COURTESY OF COLBY-SAWYER SPORTS INFORMATION

 

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Founded in 1912 by the Sisters of Mercy in Portland, Maine, Saint Joseph’s College is Maine’s Catholic liberal arts college in the Mercy tradition. We are inclusive of all faiths, including no faith. The 474-acre campus, located on the shore of Sebago Lake in Standish, Maine offers more than 40 undergraduate programs and a Division III athletic program to a population of approximately 1,000 on-campus students. A pioneer of distance education since the 1970s, the College also provides online certificates and undergraduate and graduate degrees for thousands more working adults who reside in more than 20 other countries. In 2015 the College was selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to receive its Community Engagement Classification, highlighting the College’s focus on community service throughout its mission and daily interactions within local, regional, and global communities. In 2018, Princeton Review recognized SJC as one of its “Green Colleges” for its sustainability initiatives. Learn more at www.sjcme.edu.