NEWTON, Mass. - A regular season rematch of last season's Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Quarterfinals went the way of Lasell University, as the Norwich University men's basketball team dropped a nail-biting 78-73 decision to the Lasers at the Lasell Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.

Three Cadet starters tallied double-digits, with Jalen Olivero (Holyoke, Mass.) pacing the effort on 21 points behind four made three-pointers to go with four steals.  Owen Liss (West Suffield, Conn.) shot 50% from the floor to rack up 18 points, while Sharif Sharif (Burlington, Vt.) added 15 points, eight caroms, and three steals.

Kohlby Murray (Fair Haven, Vt.) opened up the scoring less than a minute into the affair, drilling a long-range shot to lead Norwich to an early 7-2 lead.  The Lasers surged ahead behind nine-straight points, which Olivero promptly answered with three-straight baskets.

Both teams exchanged leads throughout the initial 20 minutes, with Lasell seemingly assuming control late in the stanza after turning a 29-all deadlock into a seven-point advantage.  Olivero provided a spark before the buzzer, knocking down a trey off a Murray helper in the waning seconds to bring the Laser lead down to four.

The Cadets stormed out of the gates, reclaiming the lead on a pair of Sharif buckets within a 26-second span and again igniting another back-and-forth sequence.  Murray, Noah Hutchinson (Montclair, N.J.), and Liss handed the Cadets their final lead of the day on eight-straight points before Lasell erased a 53-51 hole to regain the edge.  Two free throws from Sharif with four minutes remaining brought the score to 64-64, but the Lasers were able to keep any further rally by Norwich at bay.  The Cadets had an opportunity for late-game heroics in the final seconds after a Murray jumper made it 76-73, but Norwich was unable to convert on the ensuing offensive possession to potentially force overtime.

Norwich held a slim advantage in bench points (6-5) while tying the Lasers in second-chance points (8-8).  The Cadet offense was again electrifying, finishing with a 42.6% clip from the floor to go with a 9-20 mark from beyond the arc.  Norwich limited the Lasers to just eight attempts from the charity stripe while attempting 16 freebies of their own.

The Cadets will head into the final week of the regular season looking to solidify a spot in the GNAC Quarterfinals.  Norwich first heads to Saint Joseph's College of Maine on Tuesday, Feb. 18, for a 7:00 p.m. clash, before returning home to host Mitchell College on Saturday, Feb. 22, for Senior Day on the final day of the 2024-25 regular season.