BOX SCORE

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Tory Stapleton (Rahway, NJ) totaled 19 points on 7-9 shooting to lead Southern New Hampshire University to a 70-62 Northeast-10 men's basketball victory over UMass Lowell Tuesday night at the SNHU Fieldhouse.  The Penmen, who have now won four in a row and eight out of 10, improve to 16-11 and 12-10 in the NE-10, while the River Hawks, who finished second in the final conference standings, are now 21-6 and 16-6 in the league.

The win, coupled with American International's loss to Stonehill, earned SNHU the No. 7 seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 Tournament.  The Penmen will host No. 10 seed Saint Rose Saturday.  The Golden Knights fell to Saint Anselm 88-79 in overtime Tuesday.  The winner of that game would travel to UMass Lowell for a quarterfinal game Monday night.

Stapleton, who came off the bench, also grabbed eight rebounds while totaling 17 of his 19 points in the second half.  Marcus Matthews (Valley Stream, NY) was the other SNHU player in double figures as he finished with 10 points.  Lucas Croteau (Rochester, NH) drilled three three-pointers and scored nine points, while Troy Bowen (Nashua, NH) and Josh Morgan-Green (Upper Marlboro, MD) each had eight.  Stephen Wood (South Jamaica Queens, NY) finished with five points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Kevin Carr drained five three-pointers and totaled 17 points to lead UMass Lowell.  Kyle Caiola had 14 points, while Craig Heatherly added 11.

Southern New Hampshire took control of a see-saw second half by going on a 12-2 run capped by a conventional three-point play on a putback by Stapleton with 3:58 left that gave the Penmen a 62-53 lead.  UMass Lowell countered with a 7-1 spurt over the next 1:18, and a three by Heatherly with 2:40 to go cut the SNHU lead to three, 63-60.  Bowen pushed the lead to five on SNHU's next possession on a baseline floater with 2:24 to play.

Stapleton sank a pair at the line with 1:07 left to give the hosts a 67-62 lead.  A shot attempt by Carr on UML's next trip down the floor was off the mark, and Bowen would grab the rebound with 51 seconds left.  The Penmen would convert three free throws the rest of the way to seal the win as the River Hawks were 0-4 from the floor in the final minute.

The second half saw six ties and six lead changes.  The Penmen scored the first four points of the half to take a 36-32 lead, but the River Hawks scored the next five to take a 37-36 lead.  Neither side would lead by more than three points in the half until the late Southern New Hampshire run.

UMass Lowell jumped out to a 10-0 lead just 3:05 into the game, but the Penmen countered with an 11-2 run, and a Bowen three at the 13:07 mark made it 12-11 in favor of the guests.  SNHU took its first lead at the 11:51 mark on a three by Morgan-Green that made it 16-14.  The two teams traded the lead four times, but James Roman (Pelham, NH) converted back-to-back baskets to put SNHU up 28-24 with 4:38 left.  Robert Walton would hit two at the line for the River Hawks with 19 seconds left to tie the game 32-32 at halftime.

SNHU shot 14-22 (63.6%) from the floor over the final 20 minutes and 50% for the game while limiting the River Hawks to 33.3% shooting in the second half after they were 12-24 in the first frame.  The Penmen knocked down eight of their 20 three-point attempts and outrebounded UMass Lowell 35-28.