Saint Michael's College

COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team defeated Felician University, 89-75, in the final game of the Best Western Windjammer Doc Jacobs Classic Saturday in the Ross Sports Center. In the first matchup of the day, Assumption University defeated Bloomfield College, 82-81 in overtime.
 
Sophomore Darrel Yepdo (Dracut, Mass./Brooks School) scored 29 points to lead the Purple Knight offense and was named the Clifford J. Breiner Most Valuable Player of the tournament after averaging 19.0 points, 5.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals for the weekend.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (1-1), Felician (1-1)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Sophomore Darrel Yepdo (Dracut, Mass./Brooks School), 29 points (career high), 9-for-12 field goals, 5-for-6 three-pointers, 6-for-7 free throws, 7 assists, 7 rebounds
• Junior Jhamyl Fricas (Lawrence, Mass./Worcester Academy/Connors State), 19 points, 8-for-8 free throws, 3 three-pointers
• Junior Jacob Duniver (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy), 11 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals, 3-for-6 three-pointers
• Sophomore Alan Brzezinski (Örebro, Sweden Western Reserve Academy), 11 points, 3-for-7 three-pointers
• Sophomore Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), 10 points, 7 rebounds

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Jaylen Colon, 18 points, 6-for-11 field goals
• Redshirt senior Anas Amos, 18 points, 6 assists, 6-for-11 field goals
• Redshirt senior Jay'von Jackson, 10 points, 6 rebounds

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights held the advantage in three-pointers (14-6), rebounding (38-37), offensive rebounds (13-9), field goal shooting (44.8%-38.2%) and three-point shooting (45.2%-24.0%).
• Yepdo's 29 points is a career high, passing his previous 23 points against Bentley on Jan. 14. He totaled 24 in the second half alone.
• The Purple Knights never gave up the lead in the second half after going ahead with 19:25 to go after trailing by one point going into halftime.

THE ACTION

• The Golden Falcons created space early in the first half, scoring 16 of the first 23 points, led by three-pointers by senior Justin Davis, Amos, and Colon.
• The Purple Knights came back from another nine-point deficit with a 14-0 run, as five players scored. Marold's lay-up with 4:34 to put the hosts up 31-26.
• Felician finished the first half on an 8-2 run, with redshirt junior Jabri Fitzpatrick scoring his team's final five points for the Golden Falcons, including two made shots at the charity stripe as the final points of the half with 31 seconds to go. The visitors led 38-37 at halftime.
• Brzezinski started the second half hitting two straight triples in the opening 1:19 to give his team the lead for good, and Marold's tip-in at 11:56 extended the advantage to 60-53.
• After McRae's lay-up with 7:15 to go brought Felician within 62-61, the Purple Knights exploded for a 18-3 run in a 4:16 span, led by Yepdo, who scored 15 of those points, including at one point netting 12 straight for his team. The Golden Falcons never crept closer than 12 points from there.

 NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday vs. Saint Anselm College, 2 p.m.
• The Hawks qualified for the 2023 NCAA Tournament.