NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's basketball team fell to conference rival Anna Maria Wednesday evening in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference tilt 76-69 in Andrews Hall.

In the loss, Donovan Lewis Jr. (Savannah, Ga.) shot 11-of-13 from the field for a game-high 84.6 percent, scoring 27 points with nine rebounds in the matchup. Kyle Booth (Northfield, Vt.) added 18 points knocking down two three-pointers while pulling down nine boards on the glass and Jalen Olivero (Holyoke, Mass.) led the team, tying his career-high with eight assists.

Lewis Jr. opened the contest by scoring the first 11 points of the game for the Cadets as they battled to a 15-15 tie 7:57 into the first half. The AMCATS Jakai Alexandre knocked down a three-pointer taking a 18-15 lead for Anna Maria heading into the under 12 media timeout.

A Sean Zabari layup with 9:21 remaining in the first half, sparked the AMCATS six point run that gave them a nine-point margin before Olivero knocked down a pair of shots from the line. The AMCATS pushed the lead to as many as 12 points in the first half, going into the halftime break with a 42-30 lead.

The AMCATS were hot to start the second half, expanding their lead to 19 after a Ralph Grasso Jr. made a layup at the three minutes into the half. Norwich did not give in crawling back into the contest with a mixture of finding lanes to the hoop and stronger three-point shooting, knocking down five of their six threes in the second half.

Norwich came to within five of Anna Maria with 3:41 left in the contest before Sean Etienne hit a jumper that Hayden Braga followed with a layup on their following possession to help push the lead to nine and hold off the Cadets.

Norwich (9-8, 4-5 GNAC) will visit the Raiders of Rivier on Saturday, Jan. 29 at 1 pm. They will then host Elms in a Tuesday contest in Andrews Hall at 5:30 pm.