NEW LONDON, N.H.-The New England College men's basketball team won its 17^th game of the season with an 82-79 victory over the Chargers of Colby-Sawyer College on Saturday afternoon in North Atlantic Conference action.

The win boosts NEC to 17-6 overall and 13-3 in NAC play, while Colby-Sawyer falls to 14-8 overall an 11-5 in the league.

NEC LEADERS
The Pilgrims received 28 points on 8-for-16 shooting plus a 12-for-15 effort from the free-throw line by sophomore Izaiah Winston-Brooks (Roxbury, Mass.).

Freshman Calvin Cheek (Mattapan, Mass.) chipped in with a non-traditional double-double of 19 points and 11 steals. Eleven steals are the most by any NCAA Division III player in a single game this season.

CSC LEADERS
Junior Jourdain Bell (Manchester, N.H.) led the Chargers with 21 points. Sophomore Dana Bean (Franklin, N.H.) added 17 points and four blocks. Sophomore Patrick Coffey (Westford, Mass.) chipped in with 12 points. Grande finished with eight points, a career-high 12 assists and two steals.

HOW IT HAPPENED
NEC began the game with five quick points, but Greg Breen responded with five points of his own to bring the Chargers even. The Pilgrims then began to build a lead, which grew to as much as 15 points after a Leonard trey at 5:06. Freshman Austin Boudreau (Old Orchard Beach, Maine) hit a trey for the final basket of the first half to bring the Chargers to within 12. Each team shot 43% in the first half, but NEC turned 13 Colby-Sawyer miscues into 16 points to lead 44-32 at the half. Winston-Brooks scored 15 points on 6-of-7 in the first 20 minutes.

The visitors pushed their lead to 17 early in the second half, but Colby-Sawyer slowly clawed back. Trailing 56-41 five minutes into the frame, the Chargers used a 17-5 run capped by a Dana Bean layup to make the game one possession at 61-58 with 8:54 to play. Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Chargers could get as NEC made their free throws down the stretch to secure the 82-79 road win.

The Chargers shot 50% from the floor, but NEC made up the ground by making 23-of-28 free throw attempts (82.1%). Each team had 38 rebounds.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Pilgrims will look to remain flawless at home on Thursday in their final home game of the regular season. NEC will take on Johnson State College at 7:30 p.m.