LYNDON CENTER, Vt. – The Lyndon State College men's basketball team opened up North Atlantic Conference (NAC) play with a loss to defending NAC champion Colby-Sawyer College Saturday afternoon, 93-76.

The Hornets built a twelve point lead over the first six minutes of the game behind solid scoring from Xavier Colbert (Manassas, Va.) and Gabriel Torres (Woodland, Calif.).  The Chargers responded with a 14-2 run to knot the score at 25-25 with 11 minutes to play in the half.  After trading runs, the Hornets went into half with a 50-47 advantage.

Peter Donato (Portland, Maine) put in four straight points to open up the second half for the Chargers to give them their first lead since the 19:27 mark of the first half at 51-50.  Donato continued to power the Chargers in the second half, putting up 18 points in the period as they outscored the Hornets 46-26.

Donato finished with a game-high 32 points while pulling down seven rebounds.  Taylor Grande (Bedford, N.H.) added 16 points and nine assists for the Chargers (5-2, 1-1 NAC).

Colbert paced the Hornets (2-3, 0-1 NAC) with 23 points and five assists while freshman Torres had another strong shooting night knocking down five treys on his way to 22 points, also adding three steals.

Lyndon travels to Green Mountain College Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. tip while Colby-Sawyer travels to Husson University Friday for a 7:30 p.m. tip as both teams continue conference play.