NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - The Norwich University men's basketball team survived a last-second effort on the road on Tuesday evening, storming back to top the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), 69-68, in non-conference action.

Owen Liss (West Suffield, Conn.) and Jalen Olivero (Holyoke, Mass.) were offensive stalwarts against the Trailblazers, with Liss pouring in 27 points on a 9-14 clip and 8-9 from the charity stripe to go with eight boards, three blocks, and four steals.  Olivero also snagged four steals, while logging 20 points to round out Norwich's double-digit scorers.

The Cadets captured early momentum with a 5-2 lead, but MCLA proved to be the aggressors, mounting a 16-4 run to claim an 18-9 lead.  The Trailblazers kept their edge alive for the ensuing sequences, but Norwich gradually whittled the lead down, knotting it at 23-all on a Liss layup before reclaiming the advantage on the subsequent bucket.

Norwich maintained a narrow advantage before a go-ahead three-pointer before the halftime buzzer handed MCLA a one-point edge.  The Trailblazers again held onto a narrow lead for the following 10 minutes, until an Olivero trey kicked off a back-and-forth affair that the Cadets finally seized the lead on with 2:57 remaining.  Charles Nogard (Arlington, Mass.) netted a lay-up off an Olivero helper to grant the Cadets just enough of an advantage to fend off late MCLA challenges.

The visitors maintained narrow margins in bench points (16-11), points in the paint (36-34), and fast break points (6-4).  The Cadet offense was blistering on a 47.2% shooting mark, while the defense held the Trailblazers to just 36.4% from the floor and 22.2% from beyond the arc.

The Cadets will look to keep their undefeated start to the season alive once more before Thanksgiving break, traveling to the Barre Auditorium in Barre, Vt., for a Saturday, Nov. 23 duel with Vermont State University Johnson.  Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.