BOX
SCORE
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Tory Stapleton
(Rahway, N.J.) totaled 19 points and eight rebounds to lead
Southern New Hampshire University to a 65-63 Northeast-10 men's
basketball victory over Pace University at the SNHU Fieldhouse
Wednesday night. The Penmen improved to 10-7 overall and 5-7
in the NE-10, while the Setters are now 7-10 and 4-7 in the league.
Stapleton finished 7-13 from the
floor and also handed out a trio of assists. Hanell
Velez (Woburn, Mass.) was the only other Penmen player in
double figures, as he matched a career-best with 14 points off the
bench, going 5-9 from the floor. Josh
Morgan-Green (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and Cory
Vejraska (Alachua, Fla.) each finished with seven points,
while Stephen Wood (South Jamaica Queens, N.Y.)
totaled six points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three steals and a
pair of blocks.
Carlos Howard led Pace with 20
points, knocking down six of his nine three-point attempts, while
Laurence McGee had 14 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Ryan Woods knocked down a pair of three-pointers and finished with
10 points off the bench.
In a second half in which neither
side led by more than six points, Southern New Hampshire used a 6-0
spurt to break a 56-56 tie and carve out a 62-56 lead with 3:35
left on a layup by Stapleton. The Setters knocked the lead
down to three, 62-59, with 2:22 left on a layup by Woods, but
neither side would score again until Josh Last
(Hooksett, N.H.) hit a tough layup in the paint with 18 seconds
left to put SNHU up 64-59.
McGhee would race down and make a
layup to make it 64-61 with 13 seconds left. Following a
timeout Pace was forced to give two fouls as it had only committed
five team fouls to that point. Velez would be fouled and made
the front end of the 1-and-1 with 12.1 seconds left, but missed the
second. Howard converted a layup at the other end to make it
65-63 with 6.6 seconds to play.
Vejraska would be fouled and missed
the front end of the 1-and-1. Woods would collect the rebound
and got a look at a final three-point attempt, but the shot was
waved off by the officials and was off the mark.
SNHU trailed 32-31 at halftime but
scored the first five points of the second half to take a 36-32
lead on a pair of free throws by Stapleton with 17:47 to
play. Pace would take the lead with 15:04 left when a Woods
layup capped a 5-0 spurt, but on the next Penmen possession Last
knocked down a three to make it 43-41 in favor of the hosts.
The Setters would tie the game two more times, the last coming on a
McGhee layup with 5:59 to go, but never went back in front.
In a first half that saw five lead
changes and six ties, Pace opened up a 30-24 lead 2:56 before
intermission following back-to-back threes by McGhee and Woods, and
took its largest lead, 32-25, with 2:09 left before halftime on a
McGhee layup. The Penmen would cut the lead to one by scoring
the final six points of the frame, and a conventional three-point
play by Stapleton with 27 seconds left made it a 32-31 game at the
break.
SNHU shot just 35.9% for the
contest, but went 14-21 at the free throw line while Pace was 5-11
at the stripe. Pace did knock down 10 of its 21 three-point
attempts, but was outrebounded 42-38, and a 22-13 offensive rebound
advantage for the Penmen resulted in a 22-9 margin in second chance
points.
Southern New Hampshire hits the
road Saturday when it travels to Southern Connecticut State
University for a 3:30 Northeast-10 contest.
