Box Score BOX SCORE
RAPID REACTION WITH HEAD COACH STAN SPIROU
When and Where: February 26, 2016 – Manchester, N.H. (SNHU Fieldhouse)
Score: Southern New Hampshire University 88, American International College 82
Records: SNHU 19-10, AIC 11-16
Redshirt-sophomore Chris Walters (Stamford, Conn.) and seniors BJ Cardarelli (Manchester, Conn.) and Rodney Sanders (Elizabeth, N.J.) combined for 65 points to help secure the 600th victory of head coach Stan Spirou's career as the Southern New Hampshire University men's basketball team grinded out an 88-82 win against American International College in a Northeast-10 Championship first round game Friday evening at the SNHU Fieldhouse.
The Penmen, who are seeded fourth in the Northeast Division, move on to battle the Southwest's top seed, Southern Connecticut State University, on Sunday (Feb. 28) at 4 p.m. in New Haven. AIC, seeded fifth in the Southwest, sees its season come to a close.
Walters scored a game-high 24 points (4-9 FG, 16-18 FT) and notched his second straight double-double with 13 rebounds, to go along with four blocks, two assists and a steal. Cardarelli produced a big game with 23 points (9-18 FG, 3-8 3-FG, 2-2 FT), three rebounds and a pair of blocks. Sanders added 19 points (7-10 FG, 1-3 3-FG, 4-4), five boards and three assists.
Cameron Dobbs paced the Yellow Jackets with 24 points, while Juwan Moody added 21.
American Int'l scored the first five points of the game and led 13-9 when a 7-0 run – capped by a Sanders 3-pointer – gave Southern New Hampshire a 16-13 lead with 12:35 remaining in the opening half. The teams then traded the lead four times before back-to-back treys from Jayvon Pitts-Young and Dobbs put the Yellow Jackets in front, 25-20, with 6:50 to play.
A 3 from freshman Charlie Russo (Syracuse, N.Y.) would slice the deficit to a pair, but another Dobbs triple started a 5-0 spurt that widened the AIC lead to 32-25 at the 5:02 mark. The visitors held a game-high nine-point lead over a minute later when a 3 from Cardarelli triggered a 7-2 stretch that trimmed the SNHU deficit to 38-34 with over a minute to go. American Int'l would eventually bring a 40-36 lead into the locker room.
The lead inched its way to five nearly three-and-a-half minutes into the second stanza when a three-point play from Sanders sparked a 5-0 spurt that knotted the game at 49-all at the 15:40 mark, but another Dobbs trifecta just nine seconds later kept AIC in the lead.
The Penmen finally grabbed their first lead in over 14 game minutes on a pair of free throws from Walters that made it 56-55 with 12:49 to play and set in motion a stretch that featured three ties and a pair of lead changes. A driving layup by freshman Daquaise Andrews (Queens, N.Y.) snapped a 63-63 tie to give SNHU the lead for good and set off an 8-2 run that he capped with another bucket to make it 71-65 with 5:45 remaining.
The margin would fluctuate between four and six over the following 2:47 before a layup from junior Adrian Oliveira (Pawtucket, R.I.) made it an eight-point game at 80-72 with 2:57 to go. The Yellow Jackets would not go quietly, however, as a Moody trey and Dobbs layup sliced the deficit to three at 80-77 with less than two minutes on the clock.
Cardarelli – the buzzer-beating hero in a 70-68 double-overtime win against Saint Anselm College on Tuesday – canned a huge 3-pointer from the right corner to install a 7-2 run that sealed the win and handed Southern New Hampshire its largest lead of the contest at 87-79 with 26 ticks to go.
Andrews posted nine points (4-9 FG, 1-2 FT) six rebounds, while Oliveira chipped in six points (1-4 FG, 4-6 FT) and two assists. Junior Devin Gilligan (Amherst, N.H.) dealt with foul trouble all night to finish with four points (2-6 FG) and five boards in just 17 minutes of action.
Notes:
-Spirou becomes the eighth head coach ever to win 600 NCAA Division II contests and is one of four still active.
-Spirou improves to 26-8 all-time against AIC for a .765 winning percentage – his highest against any opponent that he has faced at least as many times as the Yellow Jackets.
-SNHU wins for the ninth time in its last 11 games.
-Southern New Hampshire is now 16-11 all-time in the Northeast-10 Championship, including 12-1 at home, 6-2 in the first round and 3-1 against American Int'l. SNHU has won six of its last eight games in the tournament.
-The Penmen improve to 13-3 at home, including 11-1 against Northeast-10 foes.
-Southern New Hampshire outshot American Int'l, 44.4 percent (28-63) to 40.9 percent (27-66), while AIC returned the favor from deep, 30.4 percent (7-23) to 20.8 percent (5-24).
-Both teams fared well at the line, with SNHU holding an 84.4 percent (27-32) to 80.8 percent (21-26) edge.
-The Penmen outrebounded the Yellow Jackets, 41-38, but was on the wrong end of a 19-10 margin in second-chance points. SNHU turned it over just 12 times, including three in the second half, while AIC gave it away 13 times – nine in the second stanza.
-The win is just the third of the season for Southern New Hampshire when trailing at the half, including the second straight.
-SNHU betters its record to 17-2 when holding opponents to 40 percent or less from long distance.
-Walters, whose double-double was his 11th of the season, falls two free throws shy of matching the program record, which was last equaled in 1989. Walters has registered double digits in points in 13 consecutive games he has played in.
Up Next:
The Penmen are back in action Sunday, Feb. 28 (4 p.m.) when they take on Southern Connecticut (22-6, 17-3 NE-10) in the Northeast-10 Championship quarterfinals at the Moore Fieldhouse. The winner will meet the victor of Sunday's Saint Anselm-College of Saint Rose matchup in the semifinal round on Wednesday, March 2.
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