NEW LONDON, Conn. – Freshman Dan Draffan (Hamden, Conn.) scored a career-high 27 points to propel the Connecticut College men's basketball team to a 95-78 victory over the City College of New York at the Charles B. Luce Field House on Thursday afternoon.

CCNY (0-9), which was seeking its first win of the season, got off to a strong start and got six points from Salvatore Palazzolo in the early going to build up a 9-7 advantage by the 15:33 mark. Draffan, however, came off the bench and caught fire by finishing a pass from junior Phil Leotsakos (Arlington, Mass.) and draining a 3-pointer to give the Camels a 10-9 edge and a lead they would never relinquish. Leotsakos then found freshman Jack Zimmerman (Bedford, N.H.) for a trey to extend the margin to twin figures at 30-20, and Swenson drilled the team's eighth trifecta of the half to give the hosts a 47-33 advantage at the recess.

The Beavers were able to quickly slash the margin down to single digits at 47-39 when Austin Volkens drove in for an unassisted layup to prompt a Camel timeout, but the hosts came out of the break with a vengeance and burst ahead by a 65-43 score when senior Aaron Swenson (Waltham, Mass.) found Leotsakos for a basket from downtown to cap an 18-4 run with 12:09 on the clock. Freshman Justin Nwafor (East Hartford, Conn.) drove in to net his first points as a collegian with under a minute remaining to and give the hosts more than enough insurance to come away with their fifth win of the season.

"We are pleased we played well enough to win today," said head coach Tom Satran. "We improved a bit today and will keep working hard to continue that trend."

Draffan scored 27 points by shooting a blistering 11-of-13 from the field, including 2-of-2 from long range, and 3-of-3 at the line to lead the way for Connecticut College (5-5). He also grabbed nine rebounds and dished out two assists. Zimmerman and Yai Deng (Portland, Maine) also set career scoring highs by accounting for 16 and 11, points, respectively, while Zimmerman was among three Camels to contribute five assists in the contest.

CCNY was paced by Palazzolo's 22-point, eight-rebound effort and was among four Beavers to score in twin figures. Volkens added 15 points off the bench, and Enesco Hunte ended the game with nine points, six boards and five helpers.

Connecticut College continues a six-game homestand when it hosts Maine-Presque Isle on Saturday, Dec. 30 at 1:00 p.m.