Box Score BOX SCORE
RAPID REACTION WITH HEAD COACH STAN SPIROU & RODNEY SANDERS
When and Where: March 12, 2016 – Philadelphia, Pa. (Campus Center Gymnasium)
Score: Southern New Hampshire University 88, Holy Family University 80
Records: SNHU 23-10, Holy Family 26-6
Playing in a city central to the founding of the United States of America, it is fitting the Southern New Hampshire University men's basketball will not stop making history.
Senior Rodney Sanders (Elizabeth, N.J.) poured in a game-high 30 points as Southern New Hampshire became the first No. 8 seed in the NCAA East Regional to ever knock off a top seed with an 88-80 first round victory against 23rd-ranked Holy Family University on Saturday evening at the Campus Center Gymnasium.
Exactly a week after becoming the first team to ever topple both No. 1 seeds in a Northeast-10 Championship and just the second to ever win four games in a single NE-10 postseason, with three of the contests coming on the road, the Penmen do it again by using a fast start to send the region's top team packing. SNHU advances to the semifinal round where it will take on fourth-seeded Stonehill College on Sunday (March 13) at 7:30 p.m.
Sanders was 8-for-11 from the field, including an electric 6-for-9 from deep, and 8-for-9 from the line, to go along with six rebounds and four steals. Junior Jerome Harris (Hartford, Conn.) matched his career best with 14 points (2-6 FG, 2-4 3-FG, 8-9 FT) and tallied four rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block. Redshirt-sophomore Chris Walters (Stamford, Conn.) posted 12 points (2-7 FG, 8-10 FT), seven boards, four blocks and three assists, while junior Adrian Oliveira (Pawtucket, R.I.) added 10 points (2-3 FG, 2-3 3-FG, 4-4 FT), grabbed three rebounds and handed out six assists.
Marvin Crawford led the Tigers with 27 points.
Southern New Hampshire fell behind, 3-0, out of the gate before ripping off a 23-6 run that handed it a 23-9 advantage with 9:00 on the clock. Sanders paved the way with 13 points on 4 of 5 shooting from downtown during the stretch.
The lead was 12 more than seven minutes later when the Penmen closed the half with an 11-3 flurry – with four points coming from Sanders and three from Harris – to carry a 44-24 advantage into the break.
SNHU would open its largest lead of the game at 47-26 just 2:22 into the second stanza, before Holy Family later used a 7-2 spurt to cut into the deficit and trim it to 65-53 just inside the eight-minute mark.
The Penmen answered with nine straight points – triggered by a Sanders trey and buoyed by four points from Harris – to stretch the margin back to 21 at 74-53 with 6:11 left, but a 13-0 blitz – with four points each from Crawford and Derrick Stewart – from Holy Family slashed its deficit to eight at 76-68 with 3:15 on the clock.
SNHU would twice run the lead back into double digits, including taking an 85-71 advantage with over a minute to go, before the Tigers used a 6-1 spurt to cut it to nine with 51 ticks left. Harris would nail two free throws to all but seal it as the Penmen held off Holy Family to advance.
Freshman Daquaise Andrews (Queens, N.Y.) produced another solid postseason performance with nine points (4-10 FG, 1-3 3-FG), six rebounds and three assists. Junior Devin Gilligan (Amherst, N.H.) chipped in six points (3-5 FG), with freshman Charlie Russo (Syracuse, N.Y.) adding five points (2-3 FG, 1-2 3-FG) and two assists.
Notes:
-In the only East Regional first round matchup of the day pitting a pair of conference champions against each other, Northeast-10 Champion Southern New Hampshire reigned supreme against Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) title-holding Holy Family in becoming the first 8-seed ever to topple a No. 1.
-In its 19th NCAA Tournament appearance, SNHU improves to 27-18 (.600) all-time in the Big Dance and wins its fourth consecutive East Regional tilt.
-SNHU has won 13 of its last 15 games, including eight of nine and six straight.
-Southern New Hampshire hands Holy Family its first home loss of the season in 13 games at the Campus Center. One-third of the Tigers' losses this season have come via SNHU.
-The Penmen have won six of their last seven road games, including four straight. In those four, Southern New Hampshire has recorded wins against seed Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 in the East Regional and will meet the 4-seed in Stonehill on a neutral court Sunday.
-SNHU is 1-1 all-time against Stonehill in the NCAA Tournament.
-Southern New Hampshire outshot Holy Family, 46.2 percent (24-52) to 41.5 percent (27-65), including 46.2 percent (12-26) to 31.4 percent (11-35) from beyond the arc. SNHU also cleaned up at the line, hitting 28 of 32 (87.5%) free throws, while Holy Family was just 15 of 28 (53.6%) from the stripe.
-The Penmen outrebounded the Tigers, 39-34, while Holy Family won the paint (28-22) and turned the ball over just 13 times. Despite giving it away a season-high 19 times, Southern New Hampshire held a 22-18 edge in points off turnovers.
-Sanders now has 653 points this season, which ranks third in school history and is just 53 points shy of the record. Sanders also moves into fourth with 99 3-pointers in a single season and is sixth all-time in scoring with 1,916 points.
-Walters has now registered double digits in points in 17 consecutive games he has played in. His 182 free throws are tied for the second most in a single season at SNHU and are just eight short of the top mark.
Up Next:
The Penmen will be back in action Sunday, March 13 (7:30 p.m.) in an NCAA East Regional semifinal against Stonehill at the Campus Center Gymnasium.
