NEW LONDON, N.H. -- Colby-Sawyer College men's basketball rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat the University of Maine at Farmington, 69-62, in North Atlantic Conference men's basketball Friday evening at the Coffin Field House.

Colby-Sawyer improves to 9-10 overall and 9-3 in conference play, while the Beavers fall to 15-5 overall, 10-3 in the NAC. 

Mike Dias led Colby-Sawyer with 21 points on 8-14 shooting. Stephen Thorpe added 10 points, five assists and a game-high four steals. Paul Holland scored nine points off the bench. 

The Beavers received a game-high 27 points from the conference's leading scorer Ben Johnson (Manchester, Maine/Maranacook). He was 11-14 from the floor and 5-5 from the free throw line. Junior Andrew Dickey (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) recorded a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Nate Carson (Orrington, Maine/Brewer) also reached double-figures with 10 points. He added a team best five assists and two blocks.  

A Dias layup put the home team up with the game's first basket, but UMF rattled off the next 10 points, which ended with a Johnson layup. The Beavers held the lead for the remainder of the stanza with Colby-Sawyer closing the gap to one point on multiple occasions, but the visitors held a 37-34 edge at the break. Johnson was perfect shooting the ball at 5-5 from the floor and 4-4 from the free throw line to lead all players in the first half with 14 points. Colby-Sawyer received 22 points off the bench in the frame. 

Colby-Sawyer opened the second half with an 11-0 spurt, including eight points from Dias. The Chargers would not relinquish the lead as UMF could only come within four points for the rest of the contest. Colby-Sawyer held its largest lead of 13 points with three minutes to play, before the Beavers made a mini run towards the end of regulation to slice the margin to seven for a 69-62. 

Colby-Sawyer turned 24 UMF turnovers into 22 points and had a 31-7 advantage in bench scoring. 

Colby-Sawyer will host Thomas College on Saturday with a 1:00 pm tip. UMF travels to New England College for a 1:00 pm game on Saturday. 

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