BOX SCORE
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Troy
Bowen (Nashua, NH) led four players in double figures with
17 points as Southern New Hampshire University upset No. 3 Bentley
University 85-77 in Northeast-10 men's basketball at the SNHU
Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon. The Penmen improved to 2-0
overall and 1-0 in the Northeast-10, while the Falcons are now 4-2
and 1-1 in the league.
The SNHU win snapped a 46-game win
streak for Bentley in Northeast-10 regular season play. The
last time the Falcons had lost in conference play came in the
second-to-last game of the 2005-06 regular season on February 18,
2006 against Bryant University. The loss also snaps Falcon
win streaks of 55 in a row against NE-10 teams (including the
postseason), 64 straight against East Region opponents and 26 in a
row on the road.
Bowen finished 6-9 from the floor
and 3-5 from three-point land while also grabbing six
rebounds. Tory Stapleton (Rahway, NJ)
finished with 16 points off the bench, while Gerald
Carter (Harlem, NY) was 7-8 at the free throw line and
finished with 13 points. Cory Vejraska
(Alachua, FL) added 12 points for the Penmen.
Tom Dowling led Bentley with 24
points while Jason Westrol totaled 19 points on 8-17
shooting. Lew Finnegan was the other Falcon in double figures
as he finished with 14 points.
Southern New Hampshire trailed
34-26 at halftime and by 12 early in the second half before using a
18-4 run to pull ahead 44-42 with 15:05 to play on a three-pointer
by Vejraska. The two teams would trade the lead five times
over the next six minutes before the Penmen took the lead for good
with 9:18 left when a layup by Stapleton put them on top
56-55.
The Penmen took their largest lead
of the second half, 72-63, with 3:23 left on a basket by
Vejraska. Bentley hit a pair of threes in the final minute,
the second by Brian Tracey with 38 seconds to go making it a 82-77
game, but Southern New Hampshire sealed the win by going 11-12 from
the free throw line in the final 1:21.
Bentley used a run of 10 unanswered
points midway through the first half to go up 24-14 with 9:45
before halftime on a layup by Finnegan. The Penmen would chip
away at the advantage and a layup by Stapleton at the 3:56 mark
made it 27-24. The Falcons would respond with seven
unanswered points to reclaim a 10-point advantage, but the Penmen
would make it 34-26 at the break on a Lucas
Croteau (Rochester, NH) putback with 46 seconds to play.
Both teams shot well, particularly
in the second half. SNHU was 19-30 (63.3%) from the floor in
the second half and 5-8 from three point land while finishing at
50% (29-58) for the contest. The Falcons were 15-23 (65.2%)
from the field over the final 20 minutes and connected on four of
their seven three-point attempts while going 27-53 (50.9%) from the
field for the game. The Penmen were 20-26 from the free throw
line while Bentley was 17-21. SNHU held a 33-30 rebounding
advantage for the contest.
Southern New Hampshire returns to
action Monday night when it travels to Merrimack College for a 7:30
contest.
