Nov 15, 2014
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. --- The Colby College men's basketball team went 7-for-8 from the foul line in the final 1:49 of overtime to pull away for a hard-fought 73-70 victory over Purchase College on the opening day of the Eastern Connecticut Tournament on Saturday night.
The Mules (1-0 overall) will meet the host school in the championship game Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern Connecticut posted an easy 78-50 win over Newbury College in the other game.
Purchase (0-1) took a 67-66 lead when Taylor Foster hit both of his free throws with 2:05 remaining.
The Mules started their trips to the free-throw line with Luke Westman hitting two with 1:49 to go to give Colby the lead for good at 68-67. After a missed 3-point shot by Purchase, Colby's Chris Hudnut hit one of his two free throws with 1:18 to go.
No one scored over the next minute, with Purchase turning the ball over twice and Colby missing on a 3-point shot. After a timeout, the Panthers fouled Shane Rogers with 13 seconds to go. Rogers hit the front of the rim and had the ball go in on his first free throw and calmly sank the second for a 71-67 lead.
The Mules made the mistake of fouling on a 3-point shot with seven seconds to go and Creig Graves made all three of the free throws to cut the margin to 71-70. Colby's Sam Willson made two more free throws with 5.7 seconds remaining for the final points. The Panthers missed on a 3-point shot from the left side at the buzzer.
After battling to a 32-32 tie at halftime, Colby came out sluggishly and scored just one basket in the first 6:11 of the second half. Purchase took control during that time and opened up a 41-34 lead. The Panthers had five leads of seven points, including a 53-46 margin with 7:13 to go.
Colby went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 53-53 with 5:13 to play. Rogers had four points during the run and John Gallego nailed a 3-point shot.
The Panthers stayed focused and led 61-58 when Kayvon Reid scored with 1:46 to play. Connor O'Neil hit two free throws with 1:12 remaining to cut the margin to one point. After a Sam Willson steal, Luke Westman took a baseline drive and found O'Neil open for a 3-point shot from the right corner to put the Mules up 63-61 with 32 seconds left. Taylor Foster sent the game to overtime on a driving lay-up with 18 seconds left.
O'Neil, on a night when the Mules shot just 36 percent from the field, finished with 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field and 4-for-9 from 3-point range. O'Neil also contributed six rebounds to help Colby win the battle of the boards by a 43-38 margin.
Hudnut added 14 points, including an 8-for-12 effort from the foul line, and six rebounds for Colby. Rogers had a solid game with 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting and a pair of steals. Luke Westman had a game-high six assists and three steals, Gallego nailed two 3-point shots for six points and had two assists. Tony Karalekas had five points and six rebounds in his debut for the Mules.
Foster led all scorers with 27 points and also had a game-high 11 rebounds for the Panthers. Purchase had just five assists on its 26 made field goals.
COLBY 73, PURCHASE COLLEGE 70
PURCHASE COLLEGE (0-1)
Foster, Taylor 12-23 3-3 27; Graves, Creig 3-17 5-6 13; Walker, Anthony 5-13
0-1 11; Felix, Kendall 3-9 5-8 11; Reid, Kayvon 3-6 2-4 8; McCabe, James 0-1
0-0 0; Ansah, Derick 0-0 0-0 0; Denton, Dakaari 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-69
15-22 70.
COLBY (1-0)
Connor O'Neil 6-11 2-2 18; Chris Hudnut 3-12 8-12 14; Shane Rogers 3-5 4-4
10; Ryan Jann 3-10 0-1 7; Sam Willson 2-9 2-4 6; John Gallego 2-4 0-0 6;
Tony Karalekas 1-3 2-2 5; Luke Westman 1-3 2-2 4; Joseph Connelly 1-4 0-0 3.
Totals 22-61 20-27 73.
Purchase College.............. 32 31 7 - 70
Colby......................... 32 31 10 - 73
3-point goals--Purchase College 3-17 (Graves, Creig 2-10; Walker, Anthony
1-6; Foster, Taylor 0-1), Colby 9-32 (Connor O'Neil 4-9; John Gallego 2-3;
Joseph Connelly 1-4; Ryan Jann 1-6; Tony Karalekas 1-2; Sam Willson 0-4;
Shane Rogers 0-2; Chris Hudnut 0-2). Fouled out--Purchase College-Felix,
Kendall, Colby-Ryan Jann. Rebounds--Purchase College 38 (Foster, Taylor 11),
Colby 43 (Sam Willson 6; Connor O'Neil 6; Tony Karalekas 6; Chris Hudnut 6).
Assists--Purchase College 5 (Foster, Taylor 3), Colby 14 (Luke Westman 6).
Total fouls--Purchase College 20, Colby 20. Technical fouls--Purchase
College-None, Colby-None. A-300