Box Score DUDLEY, Mass. (Jan. 22) – The Colby-Sawyer men's basketball team remained unbeaten in conference play with a 55-52 victory at Nichols Saturday afternoon. The winner of this TCCC matchup was not decided until the final seconds of regulation. Nichols junior Michael Salis (Nashua, N.H.) hoisted up a last-second three to tie the game, but it would not fall, preserving the victory for the Chargers who improve to 9-7 overall and 5-0 in conference play, while the Bison drop to 3-12 overall with a conference record of 0-5.

Leading the way for Colby-Sawyer was freshman Robbie Burke, who finished the game with a 15 point and 10 rebound double-double. Burke made an impact from the free throw line as well, going 7-for-10 on the game.

Bison sophomore Justin Kuntz (Wallingford, Conn.) did his best to keep pace with Burke statistically, and recorded a double-double of his own with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

It was a well played, back and forth first half between the Bison and the Chargers. Up until the 3:22 mark of the half the largest lead by either team was four, which Nichols held numerous times. With the defense kicking in and the offense continuing to score, the Bison came up with an eight point halftime lead at 38-30. Over the last four minutes of the first half the Chargers were only able to muster up two points and missed their last eight field goals of the stanza.

Statistically the teams were fairly even through the half. The Chargers shot 9-for-12 from the free throw line, while Nichols shot 9-for-10. The Chargers only had an edge of five rebounds in the half, but 10 of their rebounds were on the offensive side of the ball. This may have kept them in the game, having shot just 28.6% from the field and 8.3% on 1-for-12 shooting from beyond the arch.

The Chargers' three-point shooting would not improve in the second half, finishing the game at 1-for 17. Regardless, Colby-Sawyer came out of the locker room for the second half on fire, bolting out to a 12-0 run during the first 5:32 of the frame to give themselves a 42-38 lead. Nichols picked up a free throw from freshman Ryan Sheehan (North Attleboro, Mass), but the Bison would not make their first field goal until 12:49 of the second frame.

Colby-Sawyer's run did not end there. A pair of made free throws by freshman John Roberts capped off the Chargers' 19-5 run to start the second half making the score 49-43 with 8:11 remaining.

Down, but not out, the Bison offense finally came back to life, closing the gap to just one at 53-52. Burke made two free throws with 2:36 remaining to give the Chargers a 55-52 lead, and no one would score again.

Nichols will host Framingham State on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in a rescheduled game, while the Chargers will travel to Eastern Nazarene an 8:00 TCCC tip-off Thursday.

Box Score