BOX SCORE
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Marcus Matthews
(Valley Stream, NY) scored a career-high 21 points to lead Southern
New Hampshire University to an 80-53 Northeast-10 men's basketball
victory over Assumption College Saturday afternoon at the SNHU
Fieldhouse. The Penmen, who won their third in a row, improve
to 15-11 and 11-10 in the NE-10 with the victory, while the
Greyhounds are 17-9 and 14-7 in the league.
Saturday's win clinches a
first-round home game for the Penmen next Saturday in the
Northeast-10 Tournament. The Penmen will face either Saint
Anselm College or The College of Saint Rose.
Matthews finished 5-7 from the
floor and 9-14 at the free throw line to lead four Penmen in double
figures. Stephen Wood (South
Jamaica Queens, NY) totaled 14 points, seven rebounds, four steals
and three assists, while Lucas Croteau
(Rochester, NH) drained both of his three-point attempts and
finished with 13 points. Tory Stapleton
(Rahway, NJ) added 10 points.
Dominique Price was the lone
Greyhound in double figures as he finished with 10 points.
Leading 38-29 at halftime, the
Penmen scored the first six points of the second half and held the
Greyhounds to just one field goal in the first 8:30 of the second
half to open up a 63-35 lead on a pair of free throws by Matthews
with 11:44 left. Southern New Hampshire opened its largest
lead, 71-41, with 9:05 left on a layup by Josh Morgan-Green
(Upper Marlboro, MD) and maintained at least a 27-point advantage
the rest of the way.
Assumption jumped out to a 9-4 lead
three minutes into the game, but the Penmen scored seven straight
points to take an 11-9 lead at the 13:34 mark. The two teams
would trade the lead four times before SNHU took the lead for good
on Croteau's basket 9:07 before intermission. The hosts used
an 8-1 run to build a 30-21 lead with just over four minutes left
on a pair of Matthews free throws, and held a 38-29 halftime
advantage.
Southern New Hampshire held
Assumption to 25% shooting in the second half and 31.1% shooting
for the game. The Penmen were 54.5% from the floor over the
final 20 minutes and 49% for the game while connecting on eight of
their 11 three-point attempts for the game. SNHU outrebounded
Assumption 41-36.
Southern New Hampshire closes out
the regular season Tuesday night when it hosts UMass Lowell in a
7:30 contest at the SNHU Fieldhouse.
NOTES: SNHU has
won five in a row at home and is 9-3 at the SNHU Fieldhouse this
season...the Penmen's home playoff game will be its first since
2006...Troy
Bowen (Nashua, NH) saw his streak of reaching double
figures snapped at 13 games as he scored eight points, but
Stapleton reached double figures for the 16th straight
game.
