NEW LONDON, N.H. – November 9, 2019 – The Colby-Sawyer College men's basketball team opened the 2019-20 campaign in grand fashion with a 111-97 victory over Saint Joseph's College of Maine.

The 111 points is a program record for most points in a season opener. Today's game did not count towards the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) standings. The two teams will meet again in Standish, Maine on Jan. 21 for a conference battle.

Colby-Sawyer is 1-0 and will begin a lengthy road trip next weekend with a tournament at Williams. The Chargers will play five games away from New London to close out the month of November. Saint Joseph's is 0-1 and will play at Thomas on Tuesday evening with a 7 p.m. tip.

Senior Dana Bean (Franklin, N.H.) led six Chargers in double figures with 20 points on 10-16 shooting. The center also corralled nine rebounds to move into fifth on the all-time list with 703. Senior Patrick Coffey (Westford, Mass.) was 9-14 for 19 points to go with six assists. Omar Boone (Colorado City, Texas) poured in 17 and Jake Lorman (Rutland, Vt.) tallied 15 in their collegiate debuts. Sophomore Terrence Harvey Jr. (Smyrna, Ga.) and junior KJ Synvrit (Miami, Fla.) added 10 apiece.

St. Joe's was led by junior Jack Casale (Portland, Maine) who was second in the GNAC in scoring last season at 24.1 ppg. Casale scored a game best 23 points on 9-18 shooting in today's contest. Sophomore Nicholas Curtis (Windham, Mass.) played all 40 minutes and shot 8-13 to finish with 22 points. Sophomore Griffin Foley (Portland, Maine) contributed 20 points on 7-10 shooting, while junior Tatsuaki Sakai (Ishikawa, Japan) registered eight assists.

The game was played a frenetic pace as each team shot the ball extremely well. The first 10 minutes of the contest was back-and-forth with 14 lead changes and seven ties. The Monks took a 27-26 lead after a Foley layup, but Colby-Sawyer responded on the next trip down the floor with an Omar Boone layup for a 28-27 lead. The home team pushed its advantage to nine with 7:55 to play after a jumper from Jake Lorman.

The Monks chipped away and eventually took a 45-43 lead on a Zac Manoogian (Westbrook, Maine) trey. Colby-Sawyer answered with a strong finish to the half and took a 58-49 lead when Lorman hit a running three-pointer at the buzzer.

St. Joe's scored three buckets out of the halftime break to pull within three, but a Dana Bean dunk ignited the crowd and gave the Chargers the momentum.

The Colby-Sawyer lead ballooned to 15 with 8:20 on the clock after a Synvrit layup. The Chargers held the double-digit lead the rest of the way to take the season opener 111-97.

The Chargers finished with a 56.8% shooting mark while St. Joe's was 53.7% from the floor. Colby-Sawyer outrebounded the Monks 44-23.

For the latest on Colby-Sawyer Athletics, follow the Chargers on Facebook (www.facebook.com/CSCathletics), Twitter (www.twitter.com/CSCathletics) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/CSCathletics).