BRIDGEWATER, Mass. - November 16, 2018 - The Colby-Sawyer College men's basketball team defeated Castleton University, 90-64, on the first day of the Cave Classic hosted by Bridgewater State University. 

The Chargers are 1-0 and have won nine of the last 10 meetings with the former North Atlantic Conference (NAC) foe Spartans. The Chargers will play Salve Regina on Saturday at 3 p.m. for the championship. The Seahawks defeated tournament host Bridgewater State 91-81 earlier on Friday. Castleton, which is now a member of the Little East Conference (LEC) drops to 1-1 and will play the Bears tomorrow at 1 p.m. 

Senior Jourdain Bell (Manchester, N.H.) led all players with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Junior Patrick Coffey (Westford, Mass.) added 16 points and six rebounds. Junior Dana Bean (Franklin, N.H.) was 7-of-11 from the floor to finish with 15 points and a game best 14 rebounds. In his collegiate debut, Nick Backer (Tamarac, Fla.) chipped in 12 points, while sophomore KJ Synvrit (Miami, Fla.) also scored 12 to round out five Chargers in double figures. 

Tank Roberson led Castleton with 17 points. Casey Belade and Igor Almeida each scored 10 points. Almeida pulled down a team best six rebounds. 

The teams played back and forth for the first 10 minutes of the contest and Colby-Sawyer held a 19-18 edge at the midway point. The Chargers then used an 8-0 run capped by a Pat Coffey trey to create separation. Colby-Sawyer stay hot from behind the arc and received a pair of treys from Jourdain Bell and another from Nick Backer to take a commanding 46-24 lead with a couple of minutes to play. A Castleton free throw stopped the run, but a jumper by Bell gave the Chargers their largest lead of the half at 48-25. Denis Lecours connected on a three for Spartans in the final seconds to make the score 48-28 in favor of Colby-Sawyer at the break. The Chargers shot 52.6% from the floor and made 8-of-13 three-point attempts in the first half. 

The Chargers' lead ballooned to 26 (63-37), five minutes into the second half, after a Coffey jumper. Castleton battled back over the next few minutes with six points from Casey Belade and five from Tank Roberson to pull within 15. Colby-Sawyer was able to widen the lead once again and take its biggest advantage of the contest, 85-58, after a KJ Synvrit layup with 3:34 to play. 

Colby-Sawyer outrebounded Castleton 50-30 and turned 19 offensive boards into 25 second chance points. 

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