BOX
SCORE
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Jeff Manchester led four
Franklin Pierce University players in double figures with 19 points
as the Ravens held off a late Southern New Hampshire University
rally to record an 83-77 win in Northeast-10 men's basketball
Saturday afternoon at the SNHU Fieldhouse. The win snapped a
six-game slide for FPU as it improved to 5-6 and 1-6 in the NE-10,
while the Penmen are now 6-5 and 2-5 in the league.
Manchester finished 6-12 from the
floor and made all five of his free throw attempts. Terrell
Ray was 7-10 from the floor and totaled 18 points and eight
rebounds, while Eric Jean-Guillaume added 14 points and six
assists. Kinard Dozier added 13 points for Franklin Pierce.
Tory Stapleton
(Rahway, N.J.) led Southern New Hampshire with 16 points on 8-16
shooting. Marcus Matthews (Valley Stream,
N.Y.) added 13 points, eight boards and four assists off the bench,
while Greg DeSantis (Trumbull, Conn.) knocked down
all four of his three-point attempts and totaled 12 points.
Franklin Pierce led by as many as
16 points in the second half and led 79-69 with 50 seconds to play
following a pair of free throws by Manchester. DeSantis would
knock down a three and following a timeout, the Penmen would foul
Marcus Wellman. Wellman made 1-of-2 at the line with 39
seconds left. DeSantis came down and hit another three to cut
the lead to five, 80-75.
Jean-Guillaume would miss a pair at
the line and after Matthews grabbed the rebound, Stapleton would
convert a layup with 20 seconds left to make it 80-77. The
Penmen were forced to foul Manchester, who sank two to push the
lead to five. SNHU got two looks down low on its next
possession, but both were off the mark and Jean-Guillaume corralled
the rebound with 1.7 seconds left.
Southern New Hampshire trailed
35-26 at halftime, but used an early 9-5 run to make it 40-35 with
17:53 left on a Stapleton basket. The Ravens would counter
with seven unanswered points and a Dozier three with 15:54 left
made it 47-35. Franklin Pierce would maintain a double-digit
lead for much of the second half, pushing its advantage to 16 five
times.
Franklin Pierce never trailed and
opened up a 10-2 lead 4:29 into the game following a conventional
three-point play by Manchester. Southern New Hampshire
chipped away at the lead and a three by DeSantis with 9:07
remaining in the first half knotted the game 17-17. Curtis
Christian hit a three for the guests on their next trip down the
floor to retake the lead. The Ravens closed the first half on
a 9-4 run to take a 35-26 lead into the locker room.
The Ravens shot 58.3% (14-24) from
the floor over the final 20 minutes and 47.4% for the game while
holding Southern New Hampshire to 38.2% shooting for the game,
including 25.8% (8-31) in the first half. FPU also knocked
down seven of its 17 three-point attempts while the Penmen were
8-24 behind the arc. Southern New Hampshire did hold a 41-39
rebounding advantage.
Southern New Hampshire closes out
non-conference play Monday night when it hosts Concordia College in
a 7:30 contest at the SNHU Fieldhouse.
