SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College men's basketball team led wire-to-wire in a key Northeast 10 Conference victory, downing Southern Connecticut State University 65-57 on Saturday, January 17.

AIC is now 3-14 overall and 2-5 in the NE10.

Aguibou Balde and Aleksy Walczak started things off for the Yellow Jackets with a stretch of makes, including Balde hitting the opening shot and the third to give AIC a 6-0 lead, and Walczak knocking in a three to blunt an SCSU run and put AIC up 9-4 just prior to the first media timeout.

The Owls closed to within one several times, but Walczak always had an answer; after the second media timeout, the role of scorer switched to Blair Thomas, who scored eight straight AIC points, including a pair of threes and a fast-break dunk off of a steal and feed from Amadou Diallo. 

AIC extended its lead to double digits down the stretch of the half, with Diallo adding points to AIC's total, and though the Owls were able to pull within six, Walczak had a shot credited as a basket due to goaltending that ended up being the last scoring of the half; the call, and AIC's 32-24 lead, survived a coaches challenge from the visiting bench.

The Yellow Jackets opened the second half with a bang, as Chase Nelson took a pass from Tony Felder and splashed a three, which turned out to be the only scoring through the first media timeout of the frame. Over the minutes after that stoppage, the Owls began to chip away at AIC's lead, cutting it to just four before Walczak again hit a floater, and then Jorjan Flores and Felder each made shots to keep the Owls at bay through the middle of the period.

Across the final eight minutes, it became clear that AIC could not blink; the Owls offense came alive, sparked by former Yellow Jacket Justice Ellison's familiar single-handed push. He had 14 points across the final eight minutes of play, but AIC's offense likewise came alive, especially with Nelson and Felder. Apart from his shooting prowess, Felder also had a key swipe and a stretch where he had seven of AIC's points in a row.

Fittingly, the final three points came back to Walczak, who had done so much to build the initial lead for AIC, as he closed out his team's 65-57 win with three free throws. 

Balde narrowly missed a double-double, with eight points and 10 rebounds. Walczak scored 18 points, and all 14 of Felder's tallies came in the second half. The Yellow Jackets were stingy with the ball, committing just five turnovers, and the team shot 40.0 percent from the field while holding the Owls to just one three-point field goal. 

AIC will look to build on the win as the Yellow Jackets host Saint Michael's College on Wednesday, January 21 at 7:30 p.m.