COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team moved to 4-0, extending its best start in nine seasons, with a 78-70 victory over The College of Saint Rose on Saturday during Northeast-10 Conference play in the Ross Sports Center.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (4-0, 2-0 NE10), Saint Rose (2-2, 0-1 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• First-year Alan Brzezinski (Örebro, Sweden/Western Reserve Academy), 18 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 5-for-9 field goals, 6-for-8 free throws
• Junior Joël Kabimba (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo/Middleburg Academy/Bryant), 15 points, 2 assists, 5-for-10 field goals, 4-for-4 free throws
• Sophomore CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 15 points, 5 rebounds, 4 offensive rebounds, 4 assists, 6-for-13 field goals, 3-for-8 three-pointers
• Junior Romar Reid (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Woodstock Academy/Manhattan), 12 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals
• Sophomore Jacob Duniver (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy), 9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3-for-7 three-pointers
• Junior Kasai Brown (Brooklyn, N.Y./Millbrook School), 5 rebounds, 2 blocks
• Senior Dario Milojevic (Windsor, Ontario/Herman Academy/Mississippi Valley State), 2 blocks, 2 steals

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Sophomore Shane O'Dell, 21 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks
• Junior Eric Fleming, 20 points, 7 rebounds, 9-for-14 field goals
• Senior Juran Ligonde, 11 points
• Junior Josh McGettigan, 9 points, 6 rebounds

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights improved to 4-0 for the first time since beginning 2013-14 5-0, with their wins coming by a combined 20 points.
• Saint Michael's assisted 18 of its 25 baskets while committing only eight turnovers.
• The Purple Knights shot 11-of-33 (33.3%) from three-point range to Saint Rose's 4-for-16 (25.0%) effort while holding a 17-8 scoring lead on free throws.
• Despite the Golden Knights only turning the ball over twice more than Saint Michael's, the hosts put together an 18-6 scoring lead off of giveaways.

THE ACTION

• After O'Dell's free throw gave his team a one-point edge, Kabimba and Crews buried three-pointers 44 seconds apart to provide the Purple Knights an 11-6 lead at 15:30 of the opening half.
• Senior Frankie Phelan's jumper knotted the teams at 14 by 12:03, but four points from Brzezinski ignited a 6-0 run that put Saint Michael's ahead 26-18 at 6:55.
• O'Dell's pair of freebies made it 28-24 before the hosts squeezed a 10-2 spurt into 1:26, as four players scored. Brzezinski and Duniver both canned triples, and their team led 38-26 at the three-minute mark.
• Saint Rose came out of halftime with a 7-2 run to trim the deficit to 47-43 on O'Dell's lay-in at 18:18 of the second stanza.
• Brown knocked down a turnaround jumper 11 seconds later, sparking a 9-0 run that put Saint Michael's in control. Crews had four points in the stretch, and the hosts led 56-43 with 15:12 to go.
• Sophomore Nahshon Battle's (Scotch Plains, N.J./Woodstock Academy) freebie at 10:56 gave the Purple Knights their largest lead, at 66-49, before the Golden Knights scored the next eight points. O'Dell's free throw drew Saint Rose within nine points with 4:27 remaining.
• Saint Michael's responded with the next seven points to claim a 73-57 lead on Brzezinski's jumper with 1:52 to go. The visitors utilized three triples and a pair of Fleming dunks to creep as close as eight twice, both within the final 20 seconds, but come no closer.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Tuesday vs. College of Staten Island, 1 p.m.