News Release

STANDISH, Maine — Junior guard Mike Gaudet (Bingham, Maine/Valley) scored a game-high 17 points to lead four players in double-figures as the Colby College Mules overcame a half-time deficit to defeat the University of Southern Maine Huskies 78-59 in the first game of the 2006 Maine Event tournament hosted by St. Joseph’s College (Maine) at the Alfond Center Friday evening.

The win marked the fourth in a row for the Mules who improve to 6-3 overall. The loss drops the Huskies record to 4-6.

Gaudet shot 6-for-8 from the field and was an outstanding 3-for-4 from three-point range to lead the Mules. Freshman forward Adam Choice (Newport, Rhode Island/St. Georges School) added 15 points on a 7-for-11 mark from the field and senior guard Nick Farrell (Aspen, Colo./Aspen) tossed in 14 points for Colby, while senior center Drew Cohen (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Hackley School) chipped in with 11 point and a team-high eight rebounds.

Junior forward Drew Coppenrath (Barnet, Vt./St. Johnsbury Academy) led Southern Maine with 12 points and eight rebounds and freshman guard Greg Whitaker (Presque Isle, Maine/Presque Isle) was the only other USM player to reach double-digits with 11 points. Junior forward Nick Gooding (Concord, Calif./Mount Diablo) chipped in with eight points for the Huskies and matched Coppenrath’s efforts on the boards with eight caroms.

Southern Maine held a slim 33-31 lead at the halftime break. Coppenrath tallied 10 of his 12 points in the opening stanza and the Huskies used a last second three-point strike from freshman guard John Sewall (Bath, Maine/Cheverus) to pull ahead of Colby heading into the second half.

Colby quickly erased its deficit, however, on its first possession off of an offensive rebound and put-back from Choice to knot the score up at 38-38. Both teams traded baskets over the next four possessions before the Mules scored 12 unanswered points to take control of the game 50-38 with 14:01 remaining.

The Huskies closed to within 10 points, 60-50, on a pair of jumpers from Whitaker with just over seven minutes on the clock, but the Mules responded with nine straight points over the next two minutes to go ahead by 19, 69-50.

Colby finished the game shooting 51.7 percent from the field making 31 of its 61 field goal attempts. The Mules connected on 65.5 percent (19-of-29) of its shots in the second stanza outscoring USM 47-36 in the second half. Choice scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half, making 5-of-6 from the floor, while Farrell overcame a poor first-half shooting effort (1-of-9) to toss in 12 points in the second half on a 4-for-6 effort.

Southern Maine shot just 35.5 percent from the field connecting on 22 of its 62 attempts. The Huskies also struggled from the free throw line connecting on 10-of-19 from the charity stripe for a 52.6 percent mark.

Southern Maine returns to action Saturday (December 30) at 1 p.m. in the consolation game of the Maine Event, while Colby will play at 3 p.m. in the championship. Southern Maine and Colby will face either St. Joseph’s College or Husson in its respective game.