NEW LONDON, N.H. – January 12, 2022 – The Dean College men's basketball team was defeated by Colby-Sawyer, 72-70, in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action Wednesday evening.

Dean falls to 5-6 overall and 0-4 in the GNAC South standings. The Bulldogs return home on Saturday to host Elms at 1 p.m. Colby-Sawyer improves to 6-6 overall and goes to 3-3 in the GNAC North. The Chargers travel to 7th ranked University of Saint Joseph on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Junior Mark Blair (Rosedale, N.Y.) led Dean with 21 points, 16 rebounds and five assists. Freshman Joshua Richardson (Sydney, Australia) scored 11 points on 5-6 shooting. Senior Winston Bryan (Greensboro, N.C.) registered nine points and 10 boards.

Freshman Kevin Cummings (Portsmouth, N.H.) poured in a game best 22 points and made 5-of-10 three pointers for the Chargers. Junior Conor Kelly (Charlestown, Mass.) finished with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Deondre Smith (Garland, Texas) added 12 points and four steals.

Colby-Sawyer shot 40.9% from beyond the arc (9-22), while Dean had a 50-37 advantage in rebounding.

Dean scored the first 12 points, seven by sophomore Shim Daniels (New Haven, Conn.) and five from freshman Dion Zhuta (Middlebury, Conn.), before Colby-Sawyer got on the board four minutes into the contest. The Dean lead ballooned to 30-16 after a Blair layup with five minutes on the clock. Colby-Sawyer chipped away and finished the half on a 14-4 run, with 11 points by Kelly, to make the score 34-30 in favor of the Bulldogs at the break.

Colby-Sawyer sophomore Deonte Flowers (Sumter, S.C) hit a three-pointer, 3:09 into the second, to give the Chargers their first lead of the game at 39-38. Blair gave the Bulldogs a 48-46 advantage with a bucket in the paint with 11:19 to play. The Chargers scored the next seven points to take a 53-48 lead, but Dean rattled off the next seven to knot the score with seven minutes to play.

With less than five minutes on the clock, Dean senior Nick Sampeck (Blanco, Texas) hit a corner three to put the Bulldogs on top 63-59. Colby-Sawyer responded with a 10-0 run, capped by a pair of Cummings threes.

A pair of layups brought Dean to back within 69-67. Kelly hit both ends of a 1-and-1 to put Colby-Sawyer in front 71-67 before a Sampeck layup cut the Dean deficit in half with six seconds to play. The Chargers then made one free throw to take a 72-69 lead. On the final possession, Dean was fouled shooting a three but converted one of three free throws to make the final 72-70.