COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team took the lead for good behind a late 7-0 run on Wednesday during a 78-73 win over the University of New Haven at the Ross Sports Center. The Purple Knights, who remained in first place in the Northeast-10 Conference with a 6-0 mark, received votes toward the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) national poll and were fourth in the most recent D2CSC East Region rankings.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (10-2, 6-0 NE10), New Haven (4-8, 1-5 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Romar Reid (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Woodstock Academy/Manhattan), 21 points, 5 assists, 6-for-12 field goals, 8-for-10 free throws
• Sophomore Alan Brzezinski (Örebro, Sweden/Western Reserve Academy), 17 points, 6-for-9 field goals, 5-for-7 three-pointers
• Junior Jacob Duniver (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy), 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3-for-6 three-pointers
• Sophomore Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), 10 points, 12 rebounds, 6 offensive rebounds, 3 blocks, 5-for-9 field goals
• Sophomore Darrel Yepdo (Dracut, Mass./Brooks School), 10 points, 2-for-5 three-pointers
• Junior CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 7 points, 5 steals, 4-for-4 free throws
• First-year Sebastian Andersson (Stockholm, Sweden/Korrespondensgymnasiet/Eastern Washington), 5 rebounds

OPPONENT LEADERS

• First-year Jah'Likai King, 25 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, 10-for-21 field goals, 5-for-6 free throws
• Graduate student Tyler Saint-Furcy, 18 points, 5 steals, 7-for-11 field goals, 6-for-6 free throws
• Senior Davontrey Thomas, 11 points, 3 assists, 2 steals
• Sophomore Ethan Simmon, 11 points
• Sophomore Joshua Hopson, 19 rebounds, 8 offensive rebounds, 4 assists

GAME FACTS

• Reid played a hand in 29 of his team's 40 first-half points, scoring 14 and assisting five three-pointers.
• Marold earned his third double-double of the season.
• Five of the Purple and Gold's wins have come by five points or fewer.
• Saint Michael's continued its best NE10 start since 2000-01 (10-0).
• The Purple Knights shot 44.4% (12-for-27) from three-point range while holding the Chargers to a 26.3% (5-for-19) shooting effort from deep.

THE ACTION

• The Purple Knights used an 8-0 spurt in a matter of 50 seconds to nab a 9-2 lead by 14:25 of the opening half, as Reid scored the first five points before Brzezinski buried a corner three.
• After Crews knocked down a triple, Reid canned two free throws to push the lead to 16-4 at 12:13.
• The Chargers were down 27-21 after King's three-point play with 5:27 left, but Reid countered with a lay-in 22 seconds later, sparking a 13-3 run that featured treys from Duniver, Brzezinski and Yepdo. Saint Michael's led 40-28 at halftime.
• Brzezinski's triple at 17:10 of the second half still had Saint Michael's up 48-37 before New Haven slowly chipped away, drawing within 58-57 on Thomas' baseline jumper at 10:16, giving his team 29 points at that point of the second period after netting only 28 in the opening 20 minutes.
• Reid's breakaway lay-up from Yepdo's feed pushed the lead back to 63-57 at 9:15, but Thomas's pair of free throws knotted the teams at 65 with 5:48 left to cap an 8-2 spurt.
• Marold's putback just 13 seconds later gave the Purple Knights the lead for good and sparked a 7-0 run, which Brzezinski capped with a three-pointer with 2:54 to go.
• After King knocked down a jumper with 34 seconds left to make it 76-71, Saint Michael's turned the ball over in front of the New Haven bench, but a final three-pointer was missed with 18 seconds to go, and Reid grabbed the rebound before hitting two free throws at 12.9 seconds to seal the win.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday at Southern Connecticut State University, 3:30 p.m.
• The Owls were sixth in the latest D2CSC East Region poll.