Castleton, Vt.- Colby opened their season with a thrilling overtime win against another Maine opponent in St. Josephs University. A familiar face led the Monks against the Mules as Head Coach Tyler Ackley was a Mule's assistant before moving last year to take the head coaching job in Standish. Colby goes to 1-0, while the Monks go to 0-1 on this new season.
The first half saw a slow start for Colby as they had to work to hit their shots, not reaching 20 points until nearly halfway through the first half. However, the second part of the first half saw the Mule's shots fall, and they quickly opened leads of seven and eight points on the Monks. The Mules were led by three senior starters, including senior
Noah Tyson, who was playing his first collegiate game in his hometown. However, first-year
Max Poulton led the scoring for the Mules with nine points in the first half.
The second half saw a more back-and-forth game as neither team could gain any separation, with leads never stretching to more than five points. Regulation ended as
Will King hit a twisting layup with three seconds left to tie the game back up at 82 after Colby had been down 5. However, a desperation three by Tyson rimmed out to send the game to the extra period. Overtime saw the Mules finally take control of the game as they never trailed from the beginning and quick baskets by Poulton and King gave the Mules the control they needed to win the game 99-95 finally. In his first career game for the Mules, Poulton led the way with 21 points and was well complemented with 17 and 16 points by King and
Lucas Green, respectively.
The Mules play Saturday against tournament hosts Castleton in what should be an entertaining end to an early season tournament. The game is set to tip off at 2:30 pm.
