WATERVILLE, Maine – The Connecticut College men's basketball team dropped its NESCAC opener by a  76-67 final on Friday night at the Crook Center.

Greg Cantwell (Glen Head, N.Y.) paced the Camels with a season-high 24 points on 11-for-22 shooting and added four rebounds, two steals and a block. James LaFrance (Guilford, Conn.) chipped in 15 points and six boards while Garrett Clar (Victor, N.Y.) and Elias Espinosa (Leonia, N.J.) netted 10 points apiece.

Colby (10-2 overall, 1-0 NESCAC) shot 42 percent from the floor and hit 10 three-pointers on the night. Dan Civello led four Mules in double digits with 18 points. Sam Hinman contributed 17 points and seven rebounds while Mason Dobie and Max Poulton added 13 and 10 points, respectively.

The Camels jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening minute thanks to a three by Cantwell and a layup by Espinosa. Conn led until a 7-0 spurt gave Colby a 15-11 advantage with 11:40 to play in the half. The visitors kept it close the rest of the way thanks to 18 first-half points from Cantwell, but a layup by Dobie and a three from Poulton bumped the Mules' lead to 35-29 at intermission.

The Camels trimmed the deficit to three early in the second stanza, but a 10-0 run stretched Colby's lead to 57-44 with 13:09 remaining. Hinman book-ended the stretch with a pair of threes, and Conn spent the next several minutes trying to fight its way back. The Camels responded with eight straight points to whittle the margin down to five, and later got to within four following a jumper by Cantwell.

The Mules sewed up the win by scoring 11 of the next 13 points to build the lead to 71-58 with 1:24 to go. Civello and Dobie combined for all 11 points, and Colby tacked on five more points from the charity stripe in the final 53 seconds. 

Conn (10-3 overall, 0-1 NESCAC) will next play at Bowdoin College on Saturday, January 10 at 3:00 p.m.