COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team capped its regular-season home slate with a 67-54 victory over American International College on Wednesday evening during Northeast 10 Conference play in the Ross Sports Center. The Purple Knights were among 10 teams listed in this week's first NCAA Division II East Region rankings.
 
The victory helped the Purple and Gold move into a three-way tie for third place in the NE10 with two regular-season games remaining. The top seven squads qualify for the NE10 Championship, while the No. 2 through 4 seeds host first-round contests. The top seed earns a bye into the semifinal round.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (16-10, 10-6 NE10), AIC (5-21, 4-12 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• First-year John Kelley (Plaistow, N.H./Kimball Union Academy), 10 points, 2 steals, 4-for-6 field goals
• Junior TJ Henaghen (Hampden, Maine/Williston Northampton School), 9 points, 4 rebounds
• Senior Zocko Littleton (Albany, Ga./Osborne/Rider), 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 4-for-4 free throws
• Junior Latiek Briscoe Jr. (Brooklyn, N.Y./Saint Francis Prep/Saint Edward's), 8 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 4-for-4 free throws
• Junior Greg Kenney (Williston Park, N.Y./The Frederick Gunn School/LIU), 7 points, 11 rebounds, 4 steals
• Sophomore Raph Dumont (Quebec City, Quebec/Vanier College/Arkansas-Pine Bluff), 7 points, 6 rebounds
• First-year Quintin Floyd (Windsor, Conn./Choate Rosemary Hall), 7 points, 2 steals

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Aguibou Balde, 11 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals
• Sophomore Coleman Hopson, 11 points, 7 rebounds
• Senior Tony Felder, 10 points, 11 rebounds
• Junior Chase Nelson, 10 points

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights held AIC to 29.9% shooting while collecting 12 steals off of 20 turnovers.

THE ACTION

• Saint Michael's led 8-0 by 17:47 of the first half after converting turnovers by AIC on each of its first four possessions into points.
• Hopson scored the final seven points of a 9-0 response, and neither team led again by more than five points until Henaghen dropped in a transition lay-up at 1:44 to make it 27-20, the same score that stood at halftime.
• AIC trimmed its deficit to two points on three occasions during a 1:47 stretch of the second half, for the final time on Felder's triple at 13:22 (37-35), but sophomore Rico Byrd (East Moline, Ill./The Kiski School) countered with a lay-up 13 seconds later to spark a 10-3 run.
• The lead slowly grew to as much as 16 twice, initially on Dumont's three from in front of the Saint Michael's bench with 3:47 to go (61-45).

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday at Southern Connecticut State University, 3:30 p.m.