NEWPORT, R.I. – The Curry College men's basketball made a late charge in the second half, but ultimately fell in an 87-77 final to Salve Regina University in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play on Saturday afternoon at the Rodgers Recreation Center.

Junior Kevin Kelly (Valhalla, N.Y.) led the Seahawks with 20 points and added two rebounds and eight assists to pace the home squad, who improved to 4-9 overall (1-4 CCC). Sophomore Mikey Spencer (Abington, Mass.) chipped in 16 points, eight boards, and two assists. Sophomore Andrew Richards (Rosedale, N.Y.) added 16 points, seven rebounds, and five assists while junior Cameron Collins (Oakdale, Conn.) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12.

Senior Kieran Carroll (Greenwich, Conn.) paced the Colonels (4-10 overall, 0-5 CCC) with a career-high 28 points on 12-for-14 shooting while adding seven rebounds and two assists. Classmate Jared Thorpe-Johnson (Dorchester, Mass.) provided 16 points, five rebounds and five assists. Freshman Angelo Sardegna (Lutz, Fla.) and senior Daymeann Stewart (Milwaukee, Wis.) chipped in with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

The game was relatively close for the first 16 minutes. Curry's biggest lead in the opening half was five following a jumper by Carroll with 16:17 to play, but Salve Regina bounced right back with a 9-0 run that featured seven points from Richards. After the Seahawks grew the advantage to 13 in the first stanza, the Colonels followed with a 9-0 run of their own to trim the deficit to four (36-32) with under 5:40 left. Salve Regina then outscored Curry 19-11 over the remainder of the half to take a 55-42 lead into the break.

The Colonels came out of the intermission and went cut the lead to single digits with 14:07 remaining on a layup by Carroll (63-56). The Seahawks pushed the advantage back to 15 on a bucket from Bronstein with under seven minutes to play (80-65). Curry made one final push by embarking on a 9-0 spurt to decrease the margin to six, 80-74, following a triple by Thorpe-Johnson.

Salve Regina outscored the Colonels 8-3 over the last 4:52 to make the score 87-77, the eventual final.

The Seahawks shot 52.3 percent on the afternoon, compared to 50.9 percent for the Colonels. Salve Regina outscored the Curry in transition (15-8) and also held a considerable advantage at the charity stripe (16-5). The Colonels went to the line only eight times while Salve Regina made 22 trips.

Curry will next play at home against Endicott College on Wednesday, January 15 at 7:30 p.m. Salve Regina stays at home to host Roger Williams University on Tuesday, January 14 at 7:30 p.m.

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