Box Score NEWPORT, R.I. - Sophomore guard Isiah Pringle (Queens, N.Y.) scored four of his team-high 23 points in overtime as Salve Regina University men's basketball survived a comeback from Curry College for an 87-82 victory in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at the Rodgers Recreation Center.
Senior guard Ryan Birrell (Scituate, R.I.) and junior guard William Smiley (Saunderstown, R.I.) also contributed four points apiece in the extra session. Birrell finished with a double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds) as did sophomore teammate Jeff Bielefeld (Littleton, Mass.) who had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Curry junior guard Sedale Jones (Pittsfield, Mass.) led all players with 33 points and 12 rebounds. He led the Colonels to come from 15 points behind and force overtime.
Salve Regina had its largest lead, 52-37, with 15:22 left in the second half. Jones had a pair of tip-ins two 3-pointers, and six free throws during an 18-12 Colonel run over a 6:36 stretch. He would not score again until getting the ball back from teammate Lambros Papalambros (Quincy, Mass.) on an inbounds play with 4.2 seconds left in regulation and trailing, 73-70.
Junior forward John Durkin (Madison, Conn.) had tied the score at 68-all with a pair of free throws at the 2:53 mark. Patrick Dinneen (Medfield, Mass.) added a layup and Bielefeld followed with a tip-in to boost the Seahawk lead to four, 72-68. Two more free throws from Brian Boyajian (Saugus, Mass.) and one from Pringle left the score at 73-70. Dinneen had stolen the ball from Papalambros but got whistled for traveling, setting the stage for Jones whose 3-pointer in front of his bench swished through with one half second on the clock.
Pringle scored the first basket of the extra session and Salve Regina led the rest of the way. Smiley finished with 15 points in a reserve role, making seven of eight free throws. Bielefeld also made seven of eight free throws in 27 minutes.
Durkin finished with 14 points for Curry which also got a 10-point effort from senior guard Michael Connery (Narragansett, R.I.).
Salve Regina (5-5; 3-0 CCC) takes its unblemished conference record back to the Rodgers Recreation Center when it hosts Eastern Nazarene College on Tuesday (7 p.m.) while Curry hosts Roger Williams University at 8 p.m. in Milton, Mass.