Box Score WATERVILLE, Maine --- The Thomas College men's basketball team reached the midway point of its North Atlantic Conference schedule on a high note Friday night, upending Colby-Sawyer College, 78-70, at Larry Mahaney Gymnasium.
With Thomas (8-8, 4-5 NAC) clinging to an 8-7 advantage early on, Colby-Sawyer (10-5, 6-3 NAC) grabbed the lead on a Jordain Bell three-pointer at the 15:51 mark, then added to it with a Wol Majong jumper and another Bell trey over the next 90 seconds to lead 15-8.
The Terriers responded, however, regaining the lead with an 11-0 run behind a trio of Mike Akanji threes and a layup by Adam Carlson. Although the Chargers would make runs throughout the rest of the game, they would not regain the lead.
CSC cut the lead to just one at 22-21 on a three by Jake Maynard with 10:02 left in the first half, but four straight Thomas buckets pushed the lead back out to 10.
The Terriers looked poised to take a double-digit lead into halftime, but a Maynard three with 59 seconds left in the period meant Thomas would have to settle for just a 40-32 advantage at the break.
Thomas opened the second half with a pair of quick buckets, including an emphatic dunk by Carlos Gonzalez, to build the lead to 12, but a free throw and back-to-back threes by Colby-Sawyer drew the Chargers within five at 44-39 before Akanji drained yet another three-pointer.
The closest CSC would get down the stretch would be four points (58-54) just inside the 9:00 mark. Levi Barnes outscored the Chargers, 8-2, over the next 3:20 to give the Terriers some breathing room.
Barnes finished with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-19 shooting. He surpassed the 1,600-point mark for his career and now sits at 1,602. Gonzalez added an 18-point, 13-rebound double-double. He also swatted away four CSC shots and altered a number of others.
Akanji finished with 14 points behind 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range, while Dayne Savage added 10 points and seven assists. Adam Carlsen had eight points off the bench for Thomas.
All five Colby-Sawyer starters reached double-figures led by 15 from Wol Majong. He also had six assists and six rebounds. Taylor Grande and Jake Maynard each had 11 points, five rebounds and two assists with Grande making three steals to Maynard's two.
Milani Hicks and Peter Donato tallied nine apiece with Donato hauling in a team-best nine rebounds. Donato had entered the game ranked third in the NAC in both points and rebounds.
Thomas shot 46.6 percent (27-of-58) from the field compared to Colby-Sawyer's 34.7 percent (25-of-72).
Both teams also the green light to fire away from three-point range with Thomas hitting on 11 of 24 opportunities (45.8 percent) and CSC going 12-for-32 (37.5 percent).
The Terriers also had an advantage at the free-throw line where they converted 13 of 15 attempts.
Thomas looks to make it three straight wins at 3 p.m. Saturday when it hosts New England College (5-11, 2-7 NAC). Colby-Sawyer travels to UMaine-Farmington (2-12, 2-7 NAC) in hopes of getting back on the winning track. UMF topped NEC, 88-82, in overtime Friday night at Farmington.
