BANGOR – In the end, it was just too deep a hole for the Colby College men to climb all the way out of, especially against a deep, talented Husson College basketball squad.

After falling behind by as many as 16 points in the second half, the White Mules from Waterville made two late runs to close the Eagles’ lead to three, but it wasn’t enough as Husson prevailed 72-65 at Newman Gymnasium Monday night.

As much as it was a true team effort since every player who took the court contributed something to the victory, the 4-5 Braves won the Maine Event tournament championship largely due to the play of tourney MVP Tyler Muzzy.

Muzzy, a 6-foot-4 guard-forward from Greenville, not only led the Eagles’ offense with a game-high 26 points and their rebounding with nine boards, he also held Colby captain and leading scorer Pat McGowen to 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting.

“Tyler Muzzy did an incredible job on McGowan and on both ends of the floor, he was just tremendous,” said Husson coach Warren Caruso.

“He’s a difficult player to stop. We couldn’t really slow him down and that’s why he’s the MVP,” said Colby coach Dick Whitmore, whose Mules are now 8-2.

It wasn’t just Muzzy who made the difference down the stretch. Seven different players scored Husson’s final 19 points in the last seven minutes.

“Everyone who came out on the floor did something positive and that’s just something we haven’t done through our first seven games,” Caruso said. “We played well as a team all weekend long and the thing we have to do now is build on this.”

Colby outscored Husson 11-5 to cut its deficit to four points (58-54) with five minutes left. After Husson scored six of the next eight points, the Mules kicked the offense up again. A Nate Dick 3-pointer – his third of the half – and a Nick Farrell hoop made it 64-61 Husson with 2:13 left, but Joe Footer made a big offensive put-back and Jason Harvey converted a cross-court pass for a layup and a foul for a 3-point play with 48 seconds left.

Colby again tried to come back with two straight baskets, but the Eagles forced Colby to foul and hit three of four foul shots in the final 24 seconds to hold off Colby.

Junior forward Buddy Leavitt of Guilford backed Muzzy with 12 points and seven boards, and freshman guard Sheraud Lee had a solid overall game with eight points, six rebounds, and four steals.

“I’m struggling right now shooting, but it doesn’t matter because everybody else is picking it up,” Leavitt said. “We’re getting it from everybody, we have so many weapons, so I’m trying to do anything I can.”

Drew Cohen came off the Mules’ bench to contribute 23 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Dick finished with 11 points.

In Monday’s consolation game, the Saint Joseph’s College Monks overcome an 11-point deficit in the second half to claim an 83-78 win over the University of Southern Maine.

Jon Pratt scored 10 of his 13 points during a five-minute stretch that helped fuel the Monks’ pivotal 15-3 run, which turned a 70-60 deficit into their first lead of the second half with 1:51 to play. The Monks kept hanging around the Huskies before finally tying the game with 2:21 left.

Noah LaRoche and Marcus Alexander (16 points each) led the balanced St. Joe’s offense. Windham’s Chad Pulkkinen had 15 points and Steve Monteiro added 12 points plus six rebounds and four assists. LaRoche also made four assists.

Mike Francoeur led the 3-7 USM Huskies with 24 points while Westbrook’s Jason Levecque kicked in 17 points and four assists. Freshman Josh Daniels had 12 points, eight boards and three steals.

The all-tournament team selections were Muzzy, McGowen, Cohen, Husson’s Phil White, USM’s Mike Francoeur, and St. Joseph’s College’s Jon Pratt.

EAGLES 72, WHITE MULES 65

Colby (8-2) Husson (4-5)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Snyder-Fair 0 1 0 0 0 Lee 3 5 8

McGowen 4 13 0 0 10 Muzzy 10 18 26

Farrell 2 8 0 0 4 J. White 2 7

Westbrooks 3 8 2 2 8 P. White 4 8

Rutherford 0 3 2 2 2 Leavitt 4 12 12

Cohne 9 14 5 6 23 Beauregard 0 0

Nale 0 2 0 2 0 Grant 1 2 0 2

Cushman 0 2 0 0 0 Harvey 1 5 3

Jenkins 3 6 0 0 7 Footer 2 2 4

Dick 4 7 0 0 11 Henry 1 2 0 2

Totals 25 64 9 12 65 28 61 13 18 72

Colby 23 65

Husson 33 72

3-pt. goals – Colby (6-30): Dick 3-6, McGowen 2-9, Jenkins 1-3, Cushman 0-1, Rutherford 0-1, Westbrook 0-4, Farrell 0-6; Husson (3-19): Leavitt 2-6, Muzzy 1-5, P. White 0-1, Lee 0-2, Beauregard 0-2, Harvey 0-3

Attendance: 300 (est.)

MONKS 83, HUSKIES 78

Saint Joseph’s (6-4) Southern Maine (3-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

LaRoche 7 13 0 3 16 Francoeur 7 14 5 5 24

Pulkkinen 5 7 2 4 15 Levecque 6 12 5 6 17

Alexander 7 9 2 4 16 Daniels 5 8 12

Mileski 2 3 2 2 6 Garland 2 9 5

Monteiro 2 6 8 12 12 McKinnell 2 10 2 3 6

Cogswell 0 1 0 0 0 Oakley 0 2 0

Schacht 1 2 1 2 3 Donar 0 1 4

Pratt 2 3 9 12 13 Hebert 0 0 0

Plummer 1 1 0 0 2 Favis 0 0 0

Castor 0 0 0 0 0 Sayward 1 3 4

Emmons 0 0 0 0 0 Hardwick 3 6

Totals 27 45 24 39 83 26 65 19 27 78

Saint Joseph’s 37 83

Southern Maine 45 78

3-pt. goals – Saint Joseph’s (5-13): Pulkkinen 3-4, LaRoche 2-5, Monteiro 0-1, Cogswell 0-1, Schacht 0-1, Pratt 0-1; USM (7-21): Francoeur 5-10, Daniels 2-3, Hardwick 0-1, Oakley 0-1, Levecque 0-2, Garland 0-4

Attendance: 200 (est.)