NORTHFIELD, Vt.—Sophomore Cyde Niba totaled a double-double of 26 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Lasell College men's basketball team to a 72-59 road win against the Cadets of Norwich University on Wednesday evening in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action.

With the loss, the Cadets fall to 4-14 overall and 2-9 in GNAC play, while the win boosts the Lasers of Lasell to 9-7 overall and 6-4 in league play.

Niba connected on 11 of 14 field goal attempts (78.5 percent) with a three-point basket and hit three of four free-throw attempts to lead all scorers with 26 points. He completed the double-double with 16 rebounds, 13 of which were on the defensive end. Teammate Brandon Ganesh, a senior, contributed 16 points for the Lasell offense, while junior Jeremy Daniel dished out a game-high five assists.

Norwich junior Evan Tullar (Chelsea, Vt.) led the Cadets in both points, with 19, and rebounds, with six. Senior Nickolai Havoutis (Coral Glades, Fla.) chipped in with 14 points and a team-high five assists.

The two teams exchanged five lead changes and tied the score three times in the opening minutes of the first half. Neither team controlled the lead until the 10:22 mark, when a layup by Lasell's Angel Ortiz snapped a 10-10 tie and put the lead in the Lasers hands for good. A pair of free-throws by Ortiz almost three minutes later would put Lasell up by eight points.

Norwich would string together a three-pointer by Dennis Brooks (Bennington, Vt.) and a layup by Gary Gladden (Boynton Beach, Fla.) to come within three, 24-23, with 4:19 to play in the half, by Daniel responded with a three-pointer for Lasell on the next trip down the floor to open a six-point margin. The Lasers would lead by 11, 35-24, at halftime.

The Lasers used a 14-1 run in the first 5:36 of the second half to open a 24-point lead. The Lasers would lead by as many as 27 points in the following minutes. Norwich spent the remainder of the half digging their way back from the deficit.

The Cadets would hold the Lasers scoreless for a stretch of 2:25 in the final minutes of the game, and Tullar used that opportunity to net six straight points to cut Lasell's lead to 11, 70-59, with 32 seconds still to play. Lasell's Richard O'Brien hit a layup with 18 ticks left to set the final score at 72-59.

Norwich shot 37.5 percent (24-64) from the floor over the course of the game, while the Lasers connected on 29-54 (53.7 percent) of field goal attempts.

The Lasers held advantages all five scoring categories, including points in the paint (38-34), points off turnovers (11-10), second-chance points (10-2), fast break points (10-8), and bench points (18-14).

The Cadets will continue their four-game GNAC home stand on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 3:00 p.m. against Rivier University.