BOX
SCORE
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Tory
Stapleton (Rahway, N.J.) finished with 20 points and
pulled down a career-best 15 rebounds to lead Southern New
Hampshire University to a 73-55 Northeast-10 men's basketball
victory over Saint Michael's College at the SNHU Fieldhouse
Wednesday night. The Penmen, who extended a home winning
streak dating back to last season to 10 games, improved to 3-2 and
2-2 in the NE-10, while the Purple Knights are now 3-3 and 1-3 in
the league.
Stapleton finished 9-12 from the
floor and six of his rebounds game on the offensive end.
Marcus Matthews (Valley Stream, N.Y.) added 18
points, going 10-13 at the free throw line, while Greg
DeSantis (Trumbull, Conn.) totaled eight points.
Stephen Wood (South Jamaica Queens, N.Y.) recorded
seven points and seven rebounds, while Corey Boland (Union, N.J.)
also scored seven points.
Travis Warech led Saint Michael's
with 14 points, while Tyler Schilling added 13 points and seven
boards.
Southern New Hampshire trailed
three times in the early going but took the lead for good on a 13-0
run capped by a layup by Boland with 12:17 left in the first half
that gave the Penmen an 18-6 lead. The Purple Knights would
get it down to eight, 20-12, with 9:36 left, but the hosts use an
8-0 spurt to take a 33-16 lead with2:34 before intermission on a
layup by Josh Last (Hooksett, N.H.). The
Penmen carried their largest lead of the half, 36-18, into the
break.
Back-to-back threes by Qua'Ron
Pinckney and Sam Cieplicki to open the second half pulled Saint
Michael's to within 12, but the Penmen would respond with seven
unanswered points to make it 43-24 with 16:35 to go on a basket by
Stapleton. SNHU took its largest lead, 52-27, with 13:37 left
on a Josh Morgan-Green (Upper Marlboro, Md.)
three-pointer. The Purple Knights would get it down to 13
twice, the last time on a Birr basket with 7:06 to play, but could
get no closer.
The Penmen limited Saint Michael's
to just 29.6% (8-27) shooting in the first half and 37.1% for the
game. Southern New Hampshire, which held a 43-31 rebounding
advantage, also made 19 more trips to the free throw line and were
17-24 at the stripe as opposed to Saint Michael's 3-5 effort.
Southern New Hampshire returns to
action Saturday when it travels to Stonehill College for a 3:30
contest.
