WATERVILLE — After an uncharacteristic losing season a year ago, the Colby College men’s basketball team has had an expected bounceback this winter.
The Wesleyan Cardinals, though, are still the New England Small College Athletic Conference reigning champs — and facing the Mules in an early league clash, they played as such.
Colby fell to a 79-59 defeat to Wesleyan in Saturday’s anticipated conference showdown at Wadsworth Gymnasium. The loss came as the Cardinals established a lead late in the first half before pulling away in the second to hand the Mules their second straight defeat.
“They out-physicalled us and out-toughed us,” said Colby senior guard Will King. “We just gave them way too many second-chance points. We have to play a lot more physical and find some more fight in us.”
After Wesleyan pulled ahead 13-9 in the first four minutes, Colby (12-3) went on a 10-0 run behind eight points from King. The Cardinals then hit back with an 8-0 run to retake the lead before a back-and-forth stretch knotted the game at 28 with seven minutes left in the half.
From there, Preston Maccoux would control the rest of the half for Wesleyan (8-5). The senior captain scored eight points in just over two minutes for the Cardinals, who led by as many as nine late in the half before Colby scored the period’s final two baskets to make it 41-36 heading into the break.
Wesleyan then expanded its lead through Nicky Johnson, who hit a slew of 3-pointers to fuel the visitors to a 64-48 lead with 11 minutes to play. Colby cut the deficit to nine with six minutes to go but would not get closer than that as the Cardinals held the Mules scoreless over the final three minutes.
“We really wanted to make sure we ran them off the line,” said Wesleyan head coach Joe Reilly, whose team claimed its sixth consecutive win. “We knew they were going to take a lot of 3s because they have King and some other good shooters, but we wanted to make sure they were contested 3s.”
King had 23 points, six rebounds and five assists for Colby, which also got 10 points from Max Poulton and eight points and eight rebounds from Jack Lawson. Wesleyan got 28 points, seven rebounds and four assists from Johnson, 22 points and six rebounds from Maccoux and 16 points and eight boards from Shackylle Dezonie.
As a team, Wesleyan outrebounded Colby 37-29 for the game and 20-12 in the second half, in which Johnson, Maccoux, Dezonie and Fritz Hauser had four rebounds apiece. That led to some key second-chance points for the Cardinals, who also outscored the Mules 44-34 in the paint.
Colby’s Will King (14) draws the foul from Wesleyan’s Gabe Ravetz (0) during a men’s basketball game Saturday in Waterville. Michael G. Seamans
“They got the ball to the rim, and we couldn’t keep them out of the deep-paint space,” said Colby head coach Damien Strahorn. “They finished well, and then they had Nicky Johnson shooting the ball extremely well for them. They played a great game, and it wasn’t where it needed to be for us.”
Although Colby took care of the ball reasonably well in recording just nine turnovers, Wesleyan bettered the Mules in that category as well with just four of its own. The Cardinals also outdid the home team from the foul line, making 14 of 16 free throws to the Mules’ 2 of 5.
The loss was the second straight after a 12-1 start for Colby, which fell to a 12-1 Trinity team 87-80 in overtime Friday. The tough tests won’t stop coming for the Mules, who will face two teams ranked in the top 10 nationally next week as they take on Williams and Middlebury.
“This was a tough weekend, but we have to move on and start playing a little more tough,” King said. “We know we have two good teams coming up for us next week in Williams and Middebury, and that’s something we’ll have to find. We just have to get back to work and take it one day at a time.”
Those upcoming opponents, along with Wesleyan, look to be the cream of the crop in the NESCAC men’s ranks this year. Reilly, whose team is back on track after stumbling to a 2-5 start as a result of injuries and one of Division III’s toughest schedules, believes Colby can also be part of that mix.
“I think Colby is as good as anyone,” Reilly said. “With the 3-pointer and how well they can shoot it, they’re a dangerous team. I know they’ll regroup and bounce back.”
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