Feb 17, 2015
BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Junior Devin Thompson scored a game-high 22 points as the University of New England narrowly defeated Curry College, 68-65, on Tuesday evening (Feb. 17) in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball action at the Harold Alfond Forum.
The victory gives the Nor'easters (7-17, 5-12 CCC) a place in the league postseason championship for the first time since the 2009-10 season. UNE will conclude the regular season on Saturday at Roger Williams University (6-11 CCC), before the eight-team tournament begins next Tuesday.
Thompson nailed 4-of-7 from downtown and made all eight of his free throws to pace Big Blue, while first-year Evrim Ozkantotaled 15 points and six rebounds. Sophomore CJ Autry contributed nine points and a team-best 11 boards, and first-yearDrew Coveney also had nine points to go with four steals.
For Curry (5-19, 3-14 CCC), sophomore Paul Preziosi tallied 16 before halftime and finished with 18, with classmate James Pina adding 14. Junior Danny Brooks went for 11 points, nine rebounds, and five steals. Senior Antonio Jones was held more than eight points below his league-leading scoring average, ending with 10.
The Colonels connected on 8-of-16 shots from long range in the contest, but only made 54 percent (13 of 24) at the charity stripe, where UNE (24 of 32) had an 11-point advantage.
In a game that featured 13 lead-changes, the final one came 10:17 left in the 2nd half as part of a 7-0 run by the Nor'easters that turned around a 45-41 deficit. Sophomore Jean-Luc Parker put the hosts in front for good with a three-point play on a fastbreak.
Big Blue built a cushion as large as eight on three occasions in the last 52 seconds, including 68-60 after two freebies by Thompson at the 0:30 mark.
Brooks came right back for Curry, driving in for a layup plus one to make it 68-63. A turnover on the inbounds pass gave possession to the visitors, and Brooks dropped in a jumper to cut the margin to three (68-65) with 19 seconds remaining.
After UNE missed a pair of free throws, the Colonels had one last chance to pull even, but a good look from the right wing as time expired fell short.
At the start, Preziosi had 11 points in less than seven minutes to put Curry up, 14-5. The Nor'easters eventually responded as Thompson canned two three-pointers to book-end an 8-0 spurt in a span of 1:03, sliding UNE up to a 22-20 lead.
Preziosi hit the Colonels' sixth three-pointer in the opening period to cap the scoring and make it 37-33 in favor of Curry.
UNE rattled off the initial six points of the closing stanza (39-37), only to see Pina put an 8-2 stretch on the Nor'easters to restore the CC advantage (45-41).
Big Blue nearly doubled-up the Colonels on the glass in the last 20 minutes, 25-13.
Curry wraps its season on Saturday with a home match against Salve Regina University (3-14 CCC).