NEW LONDON, N.H. - The Norwich University men's basketball team assumed control of tonight's Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest in the closing 10 minutes, overcoming a halftime deficit en route to collecting a 74-64 victory over Colby-Sawyer College at the David L. Coffin Fieldhouse on Wednesday evening.
Four different Cadets logged double-digits, with all four combining for 70 of Norwich's 74 points.
Owen Liss (West Suffield, Conn.) and
Jalen Olivero (Holyoke, Mass.) nearly matched each other, as Liss posted another impressive double-double, this time racking up 22 points and 12 caroms to go with five helpers. Olivero, meanwhile, drained three long-range shots to finish with 20 points.
Kohlby Murray (Fair Haven, Vt.) also knocked down a trio of treys to tally 16 points, while
Sharif Sharif (Burlington, Vt.) provided 12 points off the bench.
Liss broke the early scoreless deadlock on a layup, paving the way for an early 6-0 spurt and giving the Cadets a lead they would control for the opening 10 minutes of the stanza. After a layup from Sharif handed Norwich a six-point edge, the Chargers mounted their comeback, embarking on a 17-4 run to claim a seven-point advantage over the Cadets.
Colby-Sawyer maintained the lead for the remainder of the first half while taking a 33-31 lead into halftime, but a combination of baskets and foul shots from Murray, Sharif, and Liss pushed the Cadets back ahead six minutes into the second frame. Despite the Chargers retaking the lead minutes later, a swift 8-0 run by the Cadets, complete with a Murray layup, an Olivero three-pointer, and an old-fashioned three-point play by Olivero, allowed Norwich to surge back ahead.
A layup from Liss extended the Cadet lead back out to 10, but the Chargers again refused to go away, whittling Norwich's edge down to four with two minutes left. The Cadets refused to give in, however, as free-throws down the stretch from Olivero and Liss iced the tilt and solidified the 10-point victory.
Both offenses were fiery, but the Cadets slightly outshot the Chargers, maintaining a 40.7% clip from the floor while knocking down 18 freebies out of 21 attempts. Colby-Sawyer was just 3-12 from the charity stripe, while Norwich held the hosts to a 16.7% mark from beyond the arc.
Chaz Cullum led the Chargers offensively, tallying 17 points, while Allen Mutiganzi, Jr., Nick Grant, and Sean Peterson added 10 points apiece.
As the GNAC race heats up ahead of the final month of the regular season, the Cadets will welcome Albertus Magnus College to Andrews Hall on Saturday, Feb. 1, for a 3:00 p.m. showdown. Norwich then travels to Elms College on Tuesday, Feb. 4, for a 7:00 p.m. duel.
