MILTON, Mass. - The Curry College men's basketball team dropped an 80-72 decision to the University of New England Monday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference action at the Dr. Eleanor Meyerhoff Katz Gymnasium.

With the loss, Curry drops to 2-11 overall on the season and 1-5 in the CCC.

UNE went to the locker room for halftime holding a lead of 42-35. Curry sophomore guard JayQuan Leonard (Plymouth, Mass.) led all scorers with 12 points in the contest's opening 20 minutes, while Drake Gavin led the visitors will 11. The half featured six ties and four lead changes.

The Nor'easters went wire-to-wire in the second half to close out their first conference victory of the season. The Colonels cut the deficit to as few as three at 60-57 on a Nick Johnson (Athen, Ga.) layup with 9:01 to go, but UNE let the hosts no closer. UNE's Alex Kravchuk hit 9-of-10 free throws in the second half, primarily down the stretch, to help his team seal the win.

Junior Angelo Sardegna (Tampa, Fla.) finished the afternoon with 21 points to lead Curry, hitting five of his six 3-point attempts in the second half to keep Curry in the game. Leonard finished with 18 for Curry, while Sante Smith (Norfolk, Va.) notched a season-high 13 off the bench. 

Curry will return to the court on Wednesday to host Suffolk University at Katz Gymnasium. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

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