NORTHFIELD, Vt. - The Norwich University men's basketball team fought back from a first-half double-digit hole to take down the Saint Joseph's College Monks in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) duel, claiming an 80-72 decision in Andrews Hall on Wednesday evening.

Five Cadets tallied double-figures in the victory, led by Kohlby Murray's (Fair Haven, Vt.) 14-point output.  Owen Liss (West Suffield, Conn.) and Donovan Lewis Jr. (Savannah, Ga.) posted 13 points each on a combined 11-14 clip, while Joe Joe DuBrul (Shelburne, Vt.) and Chris Hough (Bloomfield, Conn.) added 12 and 11 points, respectively, off the bench.

After trading baskets in the opening three minutes, the first half appeared to be all Saint Joseph's, as the Monks quickly raced out to a 26-13 lead just eight and a half minutes into the first frame.  The Norwich offense came alive, embarking on a 10-2 run to trim the Monks' advantage to five, before gradually whittling it down to just two, 38-36, at the break.

A Teagan Hynes trey pushed the Saint Joseph's lead back to five, before back-to-back layups from Lewis Jr. and Hough, capped off by a pair of Lewis Jr. free-throws, gave Norwich its first lead of the second half.  Both teams went back-and-forth over the ensuing stretch, before a wide-open trey from Lewis Jr. at the top of the key to break a 49-all deadlock kicked off a 20-5 run that would give the Cadets their largest edge of 15.

The Monks attempted to mount a comeback in the closing minutes, trimming Norwich's lead to seven, 79-72, with 29 seconds left after a Griffin Foley three-pointer, but some keep-away and a Jalen Olivero (Holyoke, Mass.) freebie sealed the deal for the Cadets' 80-72 win.

"Tonight was a very big win over a very tough conference foe," Head Coach Paul Booth said.  "We got off to a slow start, but the kids showed a lot of grit and determination coming back and had a huge run right before the first half to get it within two.  Then in the second half, we locked in defensively and did some great things."

"I think one of the keys was we had tremendous balance in our scoring efforts," Booth also said.  "Certainly a breakout performance for Chris Hough and we got some really good play out of Joe Joe DuBrul.  And other kudos go out to Kohlby Murray and Nabiyu Ndiaye (Barcelona, Spain), who did a remarkable job defensively.  A great win for our team, a great win in division, and a good win to get us to 3-3 in the conference."

The Cadets will now look ahead to Saturday's clash with Johnson & Wales (R.I.), with tip-off scheduled for 3:00 p.m. in Andrews Hall in a GNAC cross-divisional showdown.