COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team downed The College of Saint Rose, 76-68, on Wednesday night during Northeast-10 Conference action in the Ross Sports Center. The Purple Knights, who received votes toward both the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and D2CSC national polls this week, retained their two-game lead in the NE10 standings. They also sit second in the D2CSC East Region poll.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (17-5, 13-3 NE10), Saint Rose (9-13, 6-10 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Sophomore Alan Brzezinski (Örebro, Sweden/Western Reserve Academy), 26 points (career high), 8-for-12 three-pointers
• Sophomore Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), 13 points, 7 rebounds, 5-for-7 field goals
• Junior CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 12 points, 2 steals
• Junior Jacob Duniver (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy), 6 points, 8 rebounds
• Sophomore Darrel Yepdo (Dracut, Mass./Brooks School), 8 assists, 2 steals
• Senior Romar Reid (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Woodstock Academy/Manhattan), 5 assists

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Junior Ata Turgut, 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals
• Junior Tristian Jeffries, 20 points, 7 rebounds, 5 offensive rebounds
• First-year Louis Daoust, 11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 offensive rebounds
• First-year Dante Weise, 8 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists

GAME FACTS

• Saint Michael's has won three straight from Saint Rose for the first time.
• The Purple Knights shot 14-for-33 (42.4%) from three-point range, including 9-for-20 (45.0%) in the second half, to the Golden Knights' 3-for-18 (16.7%) showing, including 1-of-10 (10.0%) in the second stanza.

THE ACTION

• Turgut and first-year Christian-Pierre Louis scored four points apiece as Saint Rose nabbed a 12-3 lead by 16:03 of the opening half.
• Duniver buried a three that made it 18-13 with 12:00 to go before Jeffries knocked down a triple that pushed the visitors' lead to 23-15 at 10:56.
• Yepdo's trey capped a 7-1 run that trimmed the deficit to 24-22 by 8:18, but Turgut had six points to key an 8-0 run, and the Golden Knights pushed their advantage to 10 at 5:31.
• Crews' three right out of a timeout and an ensuing backcourt steal by Yepdo and Reid three-point play quickly cut the margin to four, and Brzezinski knocked down a three to bring Saint Michael's within 34-32 with 4:05 left.
• Saint Rose countered with a 9-2 run to forge ahead by a 43-34 count 19 seconds into the second half.
• Saint Michael's responded with a 14-0 run of its own, keyed by three Brzezinski triples and Duniver's three, and the hosts later led 50-44 on Marold's lay-in at 14:29.
• Jeffries' five points keyed a 9-0 counter, but Brzezinski buried back-to-back threes to give Saint Michael's the lead for good, making it 59-55 with 9:42 to go.
• After the visitors crept within 60-58, Brzezinski and Crews hit consecutive threes, and the Golden Knights never again trailed by fewer than four points. Marold scored six straight points to push the lead to 74-64 with 58 seconds left and clinch the victory.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday at the University of New Haven, 3:30 p.m.