Box Score

NEW LONDON, N.H. -- First-year Quentin Thompson (Austin, Texas) finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds to lead the University of New England to a 81-72 win over Colby-Sawyer College in a The Commonwealth Coast Conference men's basketball match-up of the league's top two teams Saturday afternoon at the Hogan Sports Center.

Winners of 19 straight games, the Nor'easters (20-3, 11-0 TCCC) clinched the No. 1 seed for the upcoming conference tournament which begins next Tuesday, Feb. 24.  UNE also extended the nation's second-longest winning streak and posted the program's first 20-win season since the merger with Westbrook College in 1996.

After a slow start by both teams, UNE used a 17-4 run midway through the first half to establish a 23-12 lead - its largest of the game.  The last 15 points of the run were scored on three-pointers by four different players, with first-year Victor Oruonyehu (Austin, Texas) tallying all of his six points during the stretch.

The Nor'easters still led by eight (39-31) with 0:52 seconds left in the opening period before the Chargers closed the half with seven consecutive points to trail by only one (39-38).  Andrew Ferreria made 5 of 6 free throw attempts in the final minute to narrow the gap.

Colby-Sawyer came out strong in the second frame, taking a 54-48 lead at the 13:17 mark.

UNE trimmed the deficit to two inside of 10 minutes remaining, and following four lead changes in four possessions, took the lead for good (65-64) on the first basket of a 9-0 run with 6:42 left to play.  Sophomore Chas Rentrope (Peoria, Ariz.) scored five during the surge.

The Chargers managed to cut the margin down to two (74-72) with 2:17 remaining, but would not get any closer.

UNE went 19-for-24 (79.2 percent) from the charity stripe in the second half to help seal the victory.  For the game, the Nor'easters nailed 10 three-point shots and forced 25 Charger turnovers.

Senior Jaykyri Simpson (East Cleburne, Texas) scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half and picked up a game-high four steals.  Classmate Johnnie Jefferson (Dallas, Texas) chipped in with 12 points, 10 in the first stanza.

Jon Chaloux notched a game-high 20 points for Colby-Sawyer (17-5, 9-2 TCCC), which had its five-game winning streak snapped.  David Rosso added 11.

The Nor'easters will look to keep the winning streak alive Wednesday (Feb. 18) when they travel to Gordon College.  Game time is set for 8:00 p.m.  The Chargers will host Wentworth Institute of Technology the same day.