Box Score BOX SCORE
RAPID REACTION WITH HEAD COACH STAN SPIROU
When and Where: February 28, 2016 – New Haven, Conn. (Moore Fieldhouse)
Score: Southern New Hampshire University 107, Southern Connecticut State University 104 (OT)
Records: SNHU 20-10, SCSU 22-7
If you managed to barely survive the Southern New Hampshire University men's basketball team's thrilling, 70-68 double-overtime victory against Saint Anselm College last Wednesday, you might not want to read any further. This one was not for the faint of heart.
Senior Rodney Sanders (Elizabeth, N.J.) scored 29 points, including a game-tying 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left in regulation, as Southern New Hampshire rallied from 18 down in the second half to knock off Southern Connecticut State University in overtime, 107-104, Sunday afternoon in a Northeast-10 Championship quarterfinal at the Moore Fieldhouse.
Southern New Hampshire, seeded fourth in the Northeast Division, moves on to the semifinal round to face Saint Anselm in a road rematch of the prior week's classic battle Wednesday, March 2 (7 p.m.). It will be the first meeting ever between the two storied rivals in Northeast-10 Championship history. The Owls, the top seed in the Southwest Division, will await their seed in the NCAA East Regional.
Sanders shot a lights out 11-for-13 from the floor in this instant classic, including a sizzling 7-for-8 from beyond the arc, to go along with five assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block. Redshirt-sophomore Chris Walters (Stamford, Conn.) supported Sanders' performance with 23 points (5-13 FG, 13-15 FT), 12 rebounds, five blocks, two assists and two steals for his third straight double-double. Senior BJ Cardarelli (Manchester, Conn.) netted 18 points (6-13 FG, 4-9 3-FG, 2-2 FT), pulled down six rebounds and handed out a pair of assists, while junior Adrian Oliveira (Pawtucket, R.I.) matched his career high with 13 points (4-8 FG, 2-4 3-FG, 3-4 FT) to go with four assists and two steals. Junior Devin Gilligan (Amherst, N.H.) was the fifth Penmen in double figures with 12 points (4-16 FG, 3-8 3-FG, 1-3 FT) and four steals.
Desmond Williams dumped in a game-high 36 points, including 21 in the first half, and ripped down 11 boards for Southern Connecticut, while Michael Mallory poured in 33 points – all in the second half and overtime.
Southern New Hampshire trailed 68-50 just under five minutes into the second half when it ripped off a 21-6 surge – with Cardarelli's eight points leading six different scorers during the stretch – that slashed its deficit to three at 74-71 with 9:30 remaining.
Mallory would stop the bleeding with a 3-pointer that pushed the lead to six, but the Penmen would not go away and crafted a 13-3 run later in the half that catapulted them in front, 89-85, with 4:13 to play. Sanders scored eight points during the stretch, including two of his career-best seven triples, while Oliveira contributed the other five, including the game-tying trey at the 5:17 mark.
Mallory then scored six straight to put the Owls back on top, 91-89, before Oliveira's driving layup knotted the score at 91-all with 1:39 to go. After both teams came up empty on their ensuing possessions, Mallory went to the line and hit 1 of 2 to send Southern Connecticut back in front, 92-91 with 24 seconds left.
That miss wound up being crucial as the Penmen turned it over for an Austin Carter layup that made it a three-point game with 4.7 seconds left. Junior Jerome Harris (Hartford, Conn.) then made the heads-up play of the night, heaving an inbounds pass 60 feet to an open Sanders, who had slipped up the right sideline, uncovered. Sanders caught the ball on the right wing and elevated to drain the game-tying 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds on the clock.
Southern Connecticut's inbounds pass would be knocked down and the game would head to overtime, tied at 94.
Neither team led by more than two in the extra session, which featured four ties and five lead changes. With Southern New Hampshire trailing for the first time in the overtime period, Cardarelli drained a 3 to put the Penmen back in front, 102-100, with 2:16 left.
Southern Connecticut used a 4-1 spurt to grab a 104-103 lead with 46 seconds left, but Oliveira buried another big 3-pointer to give Southern New Hampshire the lead for good at 106-104 with 20 seconds to go.
After Harris grabbed the biggest rebound of the night off a Southern Connecticut miss, he went to the line and made one of two to keep it a one-possession game. The Owls inbounds pass was knocked down, however, and the Penmen pulled off what seemed like an improbable upset just 20 minutes earlier.
Harris finished with six points (1-4 FG, 4-6 FT), two rebounds, two assists and a steal, while freshman Daquaise Andrews (Queens, N.Y.) posted six points (2-9 FG, 2-3 FT) and six boards.
Southern New Hampshire jumped out to a 6-2 lead and was ahead, 19-15, with over 11 minutes to play in the opening half when a 10-1 Southern Connecticut run – bookended by 3-pointers from Williams – put the Owls on top, 26-20, with just under eight minutes remaining.
Sanders and Cardarelli responded with 3-pointers to tie the game, but an 11-2 run opened Southern Connecticut's lead to nine at 37-28 with 2:47 on the clock. The Owls would bring a 43-34 advantage to the locker room.
With the margin at 10 less than two minutes into the second half, seven points from Mallory powered a 9-2 streak that took just 1:12 and ballooned the lead to 17 at 60-43 with 17:06 remaining. A Mallory trey would give the Owls a game-high 18-point lead at 68-50 with 15:37 on the clock.
Notes:
-SNHU has won 10 of its last 12 games, including five of six and three straight.
-Southern New Hampshire is now 17-11 (.607) all-time in the Northeast-10 Championship, including 7-4 in the quarterfinal round and 1-1 against Southern Connecticut. SNHU has won seven of its last nine games in the conference tournament.
-The Penmen were hoping to avoid that déjà vu feeling and did with the win. In 2014, SNHU earned the Northeast's No. 4 seed, defeated the Southwest's No. 5 seed, American International, at home (68-53) in the first round and moved on to the quarterfinals where they eventually fell to the Southwest's top seed, Southern Connecticut, on the road (75-63). This season, the fourth-seeded Penmen toppled fifth-seeded AIC at home in the first round (88-82), but dispatched the Owls this time around.
-Southern Connecticut outshot Southern New Hampshire, 46.7 percent (35-75) to 43.4 percent (33-76), while SNHU returned the favor from deep, 47.1 percent (16-34) to 45 percent (9-20).
-The 16 3-pointers for the Penmen fall one shy of the program record of 17 set back on Feb. 7, 1996 against Keene State University.
-The teams were almost equally matched at the line with 25 free throws apiece. Southern Connecticut shot a slightly higher percentage, 78.1%-73.5%.
-The Owls won the glass (48-41) and the paint (36-20), while the Penmen featured a better assist-to-turnover ratio (17/13 – 13/16).
-Southern Connecticut held a 31-14 rebounding advantage in the first half, including 15-6 on the offensive end. Southern New Hampshire flipped the script the rest of the way, however, winning the glass, 27-17, including 13-6 on the O-boards.
-Head coach Stan Spirou, who became the eighth head coach ever to win 600 NCAA Division II contests in a first round victory against AIC on Friday, improves to 44-16 (.733) lifetime against Southern Connecticut.
-The win is just the fourth of the season for Southern New Hampshire when trailing at the half, including the third straight.
-Walters, whose double-double was his 12th of the season, has registered double digits in points in 14 consecutive games he has played in.
Up Next:
The Penmen are back in action Wednesday, March 2 (7 p.m.) when they head to the other side of the Queen City to battle Saint Anselm (21-6) in the Northeast-10 Championship semifinals at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium. The winner will advance to the title game against the victor of Wednesday's Bentley University-Stonehill College tilt on Saturday, March 5 (1 p.m.).
For the latest on Southern New Hampshire University athletics, follow the Penmen via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram. Sign up to receive text message alerts and e-mail newsletters about your favorite Penmen teams here.
