NORTHFIELD, Vermont – The Norwich University men’s basketball team rallied from a double-digit hole in the first half to defeat the Saint Joseph’s College Monks in a Greater Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) duel, claiming an 80-decision. 72 at Andrews Hall on Wednesday night.
Five cadets scored double figures in the victory, led by Kohlby Murray’s (Fair Haven, Vermont) 14 point output. Owen Liss (West Suffield, Connecticut) Y Donovan Lewis Jr. (Savannah, Georgia) posted 13 points each in a combined clip of 11-14, while Joe Joe DuBrul (Shelburne, Vermont) Y chris hoough (Bloomfield, Connecticut) added 12 and 11 points, respectively, from the bench.
After trading baskets in the first three minutes, the first half seemed to be all of San Jose, as the Monks quickly took a 26-13 lead just 8 1/2 minutes after the first frame. Norwich’s offense came to life and they went on a 10-2 run to cut the Monks’ lead to five, before gradually cutting it to just two, 38-36, at half-time.
A three-pointer from Teagan Hynes pushed Saint Joseph’s lead to five, before Lewis Jr. and Hough made back-to-back layups, capped off by a pair of Lewis Jr. free kicks, gave Norwich their first lead of the second half. Both teams went back and forth down the ensuing stretch, before an open 3-pointer from Lewis Jr. at the top of the key to break a 49-all deadlock started a 20-5 run that would give the Cadets their biggest edge of 15.
The Monks tried to come from behind in the dying minutes, cutting Norwich’s lead to seven, 79-72, with 29 seconds left after a three-pointer from Griffin Foley, but some pulled away and a jalen olivero (Holyoke, Mass.) gift sealed the deal for the cadets 80-72 victory.
“Tonight was a great win over a very tough conference foe,” head coach paul booth saying. “We got off to a slow start but the kids showed a lot of grit and determination coming back and had a great run just before the first half to make it two. Then in the second half we locked up defensively and did some great stuff.”
“I think one of the keys was that we had tremendous balance in our scoring efforts,” Booth also said. “Certainly a great performance for chris hoough and we got a very good game of Joe Joe DuBrul. And other congratulations go to kohlby murray Y Nabiyu Ndiaye (Barcelona, Spain), who did a remarkable job on defense. A great win for our team, a great division win and a good win to make us 3-3 in the conference.”
The Cadets will now look ahead to Saturday’s clash with Johnson & Wales (RI), with kick-off scheduled for 3:00 pm at Andrews Hall in a GNAC cross-division matchup.