Colonels Drop High-Scoring Road Battle 100-92
SALEM, Mass. – In one of their highest-scoring outings of the season, the Curry College men's basketball team put together a strong offensive performance but ultimately fell short on the road, dropping a 100–92 decision to a hot-shooting Salem State squad Monday night at Twohig Gymnasium. The game featured efficient scoring on both sides, fast-paced tempo, and several standout individual efforts, but the Vikings' second-half surge proved to be the difference.
Curry came out firing, shooting an impressive 57.8% from the field for the game and racking up 51 first-half points, their highest first-half output of the season. Freshman forward Nethaniel Clemente has continued to be a dominant force inside, posting 22 points and 11 rebounds in this one, on near-perfect 11-of-14 shooting. He helped power the Colonels to a 51–48 edge at the break, with assistance from fellow freshman JD Heneke who drained three first half triples.
In the second half, it was another freshman, Manny Hidalgo who carried the offensive load as he contributed all 13 of his points in the second frame. Tommy Mallinson and Jeremiah Predin would also chip in on the scoring as they each finished in double-figures with 15 and 12 respectively. Even despite all five Curry starters totaling double-digits (the first such game this season), it wasn't quite enough to overcome the backcourt output of Salem States' Barry and Walker duo. Ali Barry led all scorers with 27 and Jamel Walker stepped up big with 21 of his 23 points in the second half.
The most important stretch of the game was when after being tied 73-73, the Vikings mounted a 15-5 spurt, taking command of an 88-78 lead, with just over five minutes left in the game. The Colonels attempted to climb back in, getting the lead cut to as few as four, but it was too late.
The Vikings were also aided by a strong bench performance from Michael Makiej who came off the bench to drop a double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds), which was critical in the Vikings securing a 43-29 total rebounding edge for the game.
For the Colonels, Jake Bernando sparked the bench with 3-for-4 shooting in his six minutes but the Colonels second unit failed to match Salem State who had 24 bench points.
With the loss, Curry drops to 3–7 on the season, but have shown their ability to play fast paced hoops, and rack up the score against opponents. They now see a several week hiatus in between matches as they are next set to face Vermont State Castleton on December 30th after the Christmas holiday.
