MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Locked in a battle with a gamely Colby side, the top-seeded Wesleyan men's basketball team had to work through a sluggish first half before exploding for 50 second half points to topple the ninth-seeded Mules 82-71 from Silloway Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon in the NESCAC Quarterfinal round.
 
Wesleyan (22-3), who tied a program single-season wins record with today's win, will now play host to the NESCAC Semifinals and Championship game next week. The Cardinals' opponent in the semifinal round is seven-seed Trinity, who upset the second-seed Tufts 90-76 in Medford. The Cardinals defeated the Bantams in their regular season meeting 82-74 back on January 14.
 
Colby, who came in having defeated Hamilton on the road on Friday in NESCAC Tournament First Round action, was the better side in the early going as the Mules hit their first three field goal attempts to build a 7-2 lead less than two minutes into the game.
 
Playing in front of a packed Silloway Gym of more than 500 fans, Wesleyan gave the home faithful something to cheer with a 14-0 spurt to counter the strong Colby start. Jordan James '22 threw down a monstrous alley-oop dunk while Nicky Johnson '25 swiped Kyle Butler and scored on the other end before Gabe Ravetz '23 pulled up from three in transition and Wesleyan led 16-7.
 
The game then took another massive swing as Colby answered back with a 12-0 run of their own, as Will King came off the bench and provided a massive spark as he scored or assists on seven straight points towards the tail end of the run and Colby retook the lead at 19-16.
 
On another King drive into the lane for two, Colby took their largest lead of the game at 25-20 with 4:16 left in the first half but the roller coaster ride continued in the closing minutes as the Cardinals scored 10 straight which stretched to a 12-2 run. Johnson put the finishing touches on the spurt with a three-pointer from the wing before he found Sam Peek '22 in-transition for a resounding dunk that made it 32-27 Cardinals.
 
Despite that late push to end the first half, the Mules came up with two Noah Tyson free throws followed by a Matt Hanna deep triple on the fast break and the score was all tied up at 32 apiece heading into halftime.
 
In an attempt to correct a disappointing first half that saw Wesleyan shoot just 37.1 percent from the floor and 2-of-13 from three, the Cardinals made a concerted effort to drive the lane which led to easy buckets and translated to a second half where the team shot 20-of-33 (60.6 percent) in the second half alone.
 
The upset-minded Mules, however, carried the momentum to end the first half into the second as Colby led by four just 1:23 into the stanza only to see the first-year Johnson seize control for the Cardinals in the rookie's first-ever postseason game. Johnson scored or assisted on three straight Cardinal possessions, the last of which being a layup on the break as he finished off a great dish from Peek after the senior swiped Hanna with the Mules on offense.
 
With the score tied at 46, a critical 7-0 Wesleyan run started by Johnson with a layup on the break, was capped by a floater from the rookie who scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half alone.
 
Colby continued to hang in and trailed by just four on multiple occasions midway through the second half, only to see the Cardinals string together another run as a 9-2 spurt gave Wesleyan a double-digit lead with 3:34 remaining.
 
Leading 73-66 with just over two minutes left, the dagger came from Johnson who let one fly from long range with the shot clock ticking down, finding nothing but net as the Cardinals led by 10 with 2:12 left. Free throws iced away the win as the players celebrated a postseason win and the right to host both the semifinal and championship round of the NESCAC Tournament next weekend.
   
Johnson looked the part of a seasoned veteran despite his youth, as the first-year guard tallied a season and career-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting to go along with nine assists and just one turnover in 35 minutes. Johnson elevated his play in the second half with the game on the line, recording 15 of his 20 points in the final 20 minutes.
 
Peek pumped in a team-high 21 points (8-16 FG) to go along with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals as this marks Peek's third straight 20+ point game and 10^th of the season.
 
James stabilized the Cardinals in the early going and finished with a monster stat line that included 15 points, a career-high 17 rebounds (seven offensive), five blocks and two steals while he stayed out of foul trouble, playing 29 minutes of foul-free basketball. The senior's double-double is his first of the season and sixth of his career.
 
Ravetz finished with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and no turnovers as he was the fourth Cardinal to hit double figures in points.
 
King led the Mules with a stellar performance off the bench, going off for 21 points (10-18 FG), eight rebounds and seven assists in 30 minutes. Noah Tyson added 14 points, 11 rebounds and five assists while Hanna tallied 14 points (4-10 3FG).
 
Saturday will make the sixth all-time postseason meeting between Wesleyan and Trinity. The Bantams own a 3-2 record all-time against the Cardinals in the NESCAC Tournament.