St. Louis, Missouri - Colby played in their second game in their Lopata Classic doubleheader, going up against Denison from Ohio after a tough battle the night before against Wash U. The Mules matched Denison the whole game but the Buzzards ended up pulling away in the last three minutes. The 86-76 loss takes Colby to 7-3 on the season while Denison rises to 6-1.

Jack Lawson has somehow gotten better since last season. He came out to a scorching start with thirteen first-half points. The junior scored seven of Colby's first nine points to start the game, dominating in the paint and also adding a three-pointer. Later on in the half, Lawson found Dan Civello who buried a three and gave the Mules an eight-point lead. Neither team shot great from beyond the arc, but luckily Colby remained patient and got open looks across the floor. After a late run from Denison with five minutes to go, Max Poulton put up five points to bring the Mules within one point heading into half.

In the second half, Colby shot better from three. Poulton shot 3 for 6 en route to 14 second half points while Sam Hinman buried 2 of his 3 attempted. The Mules relied on threes early on to weather Denison's flying start and eventually let their deficit slip to double digits. But as we've seen all season, this team doesn't give up and scored ten straight to eventually tie the game with nine minutes to go. In this stretch, Poulton buried two threes and got fouled on a third, sending him to the line where he made them all. Neither team found themselves with a two-possession lead until around two minutes left when Denison finally got their break and pulled away.

Colby has yet again showed they can compete with the best and stay in games until the end, now it's just about closing those tight games out. The Mules are back in action January 3rd, looking to get the New Year off to a winning start against Maine Maritime Academy.