HARTFORD, Conn. – The second-seeded Trinity College Men's Basketball cruised past seventh-seeded Colby College, 77-56, in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Men's Basketball Championship Quarterfinals at Oosting Gymnasium Saturday afternoon. The Bantams improve to 22-3 on the season, while Colby wraps their campaign with a 13-12 mark.
 
Four Bantams logged double-digits in the win, led by a game-high 19 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals from junior Henry Vetter. Junior Drew Lazarre flirted with a triple-double, grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds with 10 points and a game-high eight assists. Junior Jarrel Okorougo tallied 14 points with six rebounds, while sophomore Jared Berry generated 11 points, five rebounds and two steals off the bench. Sophomore Tristan Davis came up just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds and eight points.
 
Sophomore Sam Hinman paced the Mules with a team-high 13 points and two rebounds. Senior Ben Kaczmarek notched eight points with three rebounds, while junior Max Poulton, and first-years Dan Civello and Nate Kwiecinski each added six points apiece.
 
Following a slow start to the first half, the Bantams ripped off a 18-7 run, powered by a trio of mid-range jumpers from Okorougo to hand Trinity a 25-13 lead. After a triple from Lazarre, Berry drained his second pair of free throws, and then Okorougo and junior Trevor McDonald added points in the paint to extend the lead to 36-20 at the half.
 
A four-point play from Poulton helped the Mules close the gap to 42-31 with 16:33 remaining, but the Bantams responded by slamming the door with a 21-5 run over the next seven minutes, featuring seven points from Berry. Colby trimmed the deficit to 69-56 with less than three minutes to play. Trinity sealed the victory with four points from the line form Vetter and four points off the bench from sophomore Paul Ippolito.
 
Trinity dominated the glass over the Mules, 49-26, and the paint, 36-16, while the Colby reserves edged the Bantams bench, 28-23. Trinity connected on 25-of-61 (41%) from the field, including 6-of-24 (25%) from three-point, and 21-of-27 (77.8%) from the foul line. Colby shot 17-of-54 (31.5%) from the floor, 8-of-21 (38.1%) from beyond the arc, and 14-of-20 (70%) from the free throw stripe.
 
The Bantams advance to their second straight NESCAC Men's Basketball Championship Semifinals and will face third-seeded Tufts University at host Wesleyan University on Saturday, March 1. Tip-off is TBA.