CASTLETON, Vt. – Colby College (1-0) tipped Saint Joseph's College (0-1), 99-95 in overtime, in the Castleton University Classic on Friday evening. The contest was the 2022-23 season-opener for both programs.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The teams battled through 13 tie scores and 11 lead changes in a game that was not decided until the closing seconds of the five-minute overtime period. Neither team held a double-digit lead in the evenly matched contest.

The Monks held their largest advantage of the night after senior forward Ashtyn Abbott (Farmingdale, Maine) registered a traditional three-point play to make it a 75-69 game with 6:49 left in regulation. St. Joe's remained in the lead until the closing seconds when a costly turnover ultimately led to a game-tying bucket from Colby's Will King, who tapped in a layup with four seconds left to make it an 82-82 game.

The Maine institutions traded blows during the first four overtime minutes with the score sitting at a 93-93 stalemate after grad Griffin Foley (Portland, Maine) made a pair of freebies with exactly a minute on the clock. The Mules proceeded to seal the triumph by going 6-for-8 from the FT line in the final 40 seconds.

STATS OF THE GAME:

Colby scored 31 points off 26 SJC turnovers and made 29 free throws – two shy of a Monks' opponent record – on 37 attempts from the charity stripe…Saint Joseph's suffers the loss despite outshooting the Mules by nearly 20 percentage points (63.2 – 44.8) while holding a 56-38 advantage in points in the paint.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Foley led all players with 25 points and was 7-for-11 from the field and 10-for-12 from the FT line over 39 minutes
• Abbott came off the bench to contribute 17 points and six rebounds
• Sophomore guard Teagan Hynes (York, Maine) scored 14 points with three steals and two caroms
• Freshman guard John Paul Frazier (York, Maine) was 3-for-4 from three-point range with 13 points in his collegiate debut
• Senior forward Drew Shea (Mount Desert Island, Maine) added 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals
• Junior Camryn Yorke (Auburn, Maine) chipped in with seven points, five assists, four boards and a pair of steals

LEADERS – COLBY:

• Max Poulton paced the Mules with 21 points and pulled down four rebounds
• King scored 17 points with five rebounds, five assists and three steals
• Lucas Green added 16 points, four assists and three steals
• Noah Tyson netted 14 points with six caroms

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the loss Saint Joseph's falls to 4-10 all-time versus Colby College and has now suffered three-consecutive setbacks at the hands of the Mules.

NEXT!

St. Joe's concludes play in the Castleton University Classic tomorrow with a 12:00 PM game versus Coast Guard Academy.

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