Spencer scores 38 to earn MVP; Seahawks defeat old foe for Cave Classic championship

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – Led by tournament MVP Mikey Spencer (Abington, Mass.), the Salve Regina University men's basketball team captured The Cave Classic title with a 91-82 championship game victory over Colby-Sawyer College on Saturday afternoon at the Tinsley Center.

Earlier in the day, Castleton University defeated host Bridgewater State University in the consolation game, 73-65.

Championship Game: Salve Regina 91, Colby-Sawyer 82

Spencer scored a tournament-best 38 points on 14 of 21 shooting including 6-for-12 from three-point range. The freshman forward also grabbed five rebounds.

Sophomore forward Cameron Collins (Oakdale, Conn.) was also named to the All-Tournament Team for the Seahawks as he tallied 15 points on 6 of 7 shooting to go along with five boards. Sophomore guard Kevin Kelly (Valhalla, N.Y.) added 13 points, four assists and a pair of steals for Salve Regina.

Junior forward Patrick Coffey (Westford, Mass.) garnered All-Tournament honors for Colby-Sawyer. Coffey tallied 25 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. He was 9-for-18 from the floor and 4-for-7 from behind the arc.

Salve Regina shot 62% (33-53) for the game and held a 50-24 advantage in points in the paint. The Seahawks led 44-34 at the break and got up by as many as 21 points (66-45) in the second half.

Colby-Sawyer made a run late in the second half and closed the gap to five, 84-79, following a layup by senior guard Jourdain Bell (Manchester, N.H.) with 53 seconds remaining. After the Seahawks made one of two at the line, sophomore guard Austin Boudreau (Old Orchard Beach, Maine) knocked down a trifecta to make it a three-point game (85-82) with 34 seconds left to play. That would be as close as the Chargers would get, however, as Salve Regina went 4-for-4 at the stripe in the final 24 seconds and Kelly added a late layup to close out the scoring.

Salve Regina improves to 2-2 with the win, while Colby-Sawyer falls to 1-1 with the setback.

Consolation Game: Castleton 73, Bridgewater State 65

Sophomore guard Eric Shaw (Sutter Creek, Calif.) tallied 18 points and senior guard Tank Roberson (Pittsfield, Mass.) filled the stat sheet with 15 points, five rebounds and eight assists to lead Castleton to the 73-65 consolation game win over Bridgewater State.

Roberson earned All-Tournament accolades for the Spartans who also received 13 points and five boards from sophomore forward Richard Walker (Swanton, Vt.) and 12 points and seven rebounds from senior forward Ben Mrowka (Adelaide, Australia).

Junior guard Ryan Carney (Easton, Mass.) paced Bridgewater State with 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Junior forward Rayshon Ward (Fayetteville, N.C.) added 11 points and nine boards for the Bears, while sophomore center Nick Crocker (East Falmouth, Mass.) checked in with ten points, four rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

Carney was the Bears' representative on the All-Tournament Team as he averaged 22 points during the tournament.

Castleton led 36-22 at the intermission and never relinquished the lead in the second half.

Down 67-58 with under two minutes remaining, BSU junior grant Brian Grant (Hyde Park, Mass.) buried a three-pointer to make things interesting. After a stop, sophomore guard Jonathan Mercado (Lynn, Mass.) dropped in a layup to pull the Bears to within four, 67-63, with 1:16 left to play. A Roberson bucket was answered by a Carney layup with just 35 second showing on the scoreboard as the Spartans' lead stayed at four, 69-65. A pair of free throws by Mrowka and two by Shaw in the final 27 second sealed the victory for Castleton.

The Spartans shot 46% (28-61) for the game and 11-for-26 (42%) from three-point range. The Bears connected on just 39% (25-64) of their field goal attempts and went 10-for-24 (42%) from behind the arc.

Castleton improves to 2-1 on the young season with the win, while Bridgewater State falls to 0-3.