COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team lost to Southern Connecticut State University, 88-73, on Saturday during Northeast-10 Conference play in the Ross Sports Center. The Purple Knights were fifth in the latest D2CSC East Region poll.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (0-4, 0-2 NE10), Southern Connecticut State (2-1, 1-0 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 20 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3-for-8 three-pointers
• First-year Rico Byrd (East Moline, Ill./The Kiski School), 14 points, 8 rebounds, 4 offensive rebounds, 5-for-8 field goals
• Junior Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), 13 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 5-for-8 field goals
• Redshirt first-year Greg Kenney (Williston Park, N.Y./The Frederick Gunn School/LIU), 8 points, 3-for-6 field goals

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Antonio Chandler, 25 points, 13 rebounds, 11-for-13 field goals
• Senior Sean James, 21 points, 8 assists, 6-for-11 three-pointers
• Sophomore Isaac Hester, 14 points, 8 rebounds, 3-for-8 three-pointers
• First-year Christian McClease, 12 points
• Junior Albert Vargas, 11 assists

THE ACTION

• Chandler's jumper pushed the Owls' lead to 13-7 by 16:05 before the Purple Knights countered with an 8-0 run, with Marold scoring the first four points and redshirt first-year Marcus Meeks' (Prairie Village, Kan./Brewster Academy) pair of freebies capping the stretch with 12:26 to go.
• Southern Connecticut State scored the next nine points on a trio of three-point possessions to go ahead 22-15 at 9:57.
• Saint Michael's countered with a 13-3 jaunt of its own, with Crews netting seven of the points. Byrd added four, with his lay-in at 5:52 making it 28-25. The hosts later led 33-29 on senior Alan Brzezinski's (Örebro, Sweden/Western Reserve Academy) pair of free throws with 4:26 left.
• After James buried a tying corner three with 27 seconds to go, Byrd's driving lay-up just before the buzzer sent the Purple and Gold into the locker room ahead 40-38. Marold's bucket 13 seconds into the second half pushed the lead to four.
• Marold dropped in a baby hook at 17:16 to give his team a 46-45 edge, but the Owls put together a 22-3 run in response, as McClease scored eight points. The visitors led 67-49 with 11:27 to go.
• Kenney and first-year Abdur-Rahman De Leon (Roxbury, Mass./Saint Thomas More School) both scored four points in a 13-2 run that cut the deficit to 69-62, with De Leon's stepback jumper capping the stretch at 6:32.
• However, Hester hit a three-pointer 1:08 later, and the hosts never again trailed by fewer than eight points.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Wednesday at Saint Anselm College, 7:30 p.m.