Box Score VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Rodney Sanders (Linden, N.J.) became the 45th player in Southern New Hampshire University men's basketball history to reach the 1,000-point mark as the Penmen downed Concordia (N.Y.) College 76-54 Saturday afternoon at the SNHU Fieldhouse. The Penmen upped their record to 10-5 with their third straight win, while the Clippers are now 8-9 on the season.
Sanders, who needed seven points entering the game, reached the milestone on a three-pointer 2:20 into the second half. He finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. Elijah Bonsignore (Felton, Del.), who reached the 1,000-point plateau last week, led the Penmen with 23 points on 9-12 shooting (9-9 2PTFG) while grabbing 14 rebounds. BJ Cardarelli (Manchester, Conn.) was 3-6 from long range and added 15 points.
Peter Aguilar paced Concordia with 15 points, while Andrew Peacock added 11.
SNHU scored the game's first four points and opened up a 20-4 lead just over six minutes into the game following a Sanders layup. The lead swelled to 21, 25-4, on a Phillip Tripodakis (Athens, Greece) three with 12:52 to go, and the Penmen took their largest lead, 39-16, with just under six minutes to go. Southern New Hampshire carried a 44-27 lead into the locker room.
Concordia cut the lead to 13 three times in the second half, the latest coming on an Aguiar three with just over nine minutes to go that made it a 58-45 game. The Penmen answered with seven straight points to push the lead to 20 with 6:51 to go and the hosts maintained at least an 18-point cushion the rest of the way.
Southern New Hampshire shot 50% (16-32) in the opening 20 minutes and 47.4% for the game while limiting the Clippers to 29% from the floor. The Penmen held a 49-37 rebounding advantage and went 8-26 behind the arc, while Concordia was just 2-17 from downtown.
Southern New Hampshire returns to action Wednesday night when it hosts Adelphi University in a 7:30 Northeast-10 contest at the SNHU Fieldhouse. That game can be heard in the Manchester area on WGIR 610 AM.
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