Box Score BOX SCORE
When and Where: March 13, 2016 – Philadelphia, Pa. (Campus Center Gymnasium)
Score: Stonehill College 75, Southern New Hampshire University 74
Records: SNHU 23-11, Stonehill 23-8
Senior Rodney Sanders (Elizabeth, N.J.) continued his torrid stretch with a game-high 29 points, but the Southern New Hampshire University men's basketball team suffered an absolutely heart-breaking 75-74 loss to Stonehill College in overtime of an NCAA East Regional semifinal to bring its fun and frenzied late-season run to an end Sunday evening at Holy Family University's Campus Center Gymnasium.
One night after becoming the first 8-seed ever to topple a No. 1 seed in the East Regional, the Penmen nearly got past fourth-seeded Stonehill to earn a spot in their second straight regional final. The Skyhawks instead earn that berth and will take on second-seeded Saint Anselm College on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Sanders shot 12-for-23 from the field, including 5-for-10 from beyond the arc, while dishing four assists and grabbing two rebounds. Senior BJ Cardarelli (Manchester, Conn.) posted 11 points (5-11 FG, 1-3 3-FG) and seven rebounds, with junior Jerome Harris (Hartford, Conn.) also adding 11 points (4-8 FG, 3-5 3-FG) and four boards.
Adam Bramanti led Stonehill with 21 points, while Carter Smith added 18. Pierce Cumpstone notched a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards, with Logan Ryan flirting with the triple-double as he tallied 12 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists.
After leading by as many as 18 at the beginning of the second half, the Penmen had their lead trimmed to seven when Stonehill ripped off an 11-2 run – with seven points coming from Smith – to grab a 57-55 edge with 4:38 remaining in the contest.
The Skyhawks led by their largest margin at 59-56 with under four minutes to go when a 7-2 spurt – capped by a Harris trey – put the Penmen back on top, 63-61, with 1:40 left. Following an Isaiah Bess bucket with 39 seconds to play, Sanders gave Southern New Hampshire the 65-63 lead with 27.6 on the clock. Smith then tied it on a driving layup with 19 seconds left, giving the Penmen a final chance to win it, but Sanders did not like the look he had at the top of the paint and dished to redshirt-sophomore Chris Walters (Stamford, Conn.) on the baseline, but Cumpstone played good defense and sent the game to overtime.
In the extra session, SNHU held a one-point lead when Cumpstone drained a 3 to give Stonehill a 73-71 lead with 41 seconds left. Cardarelli answered with 15 seconds left as he buried a triple from the left corner to put the Penmen back in front, 74-73. Stonehill responded with a Smith layup with five seconds left to take the lead and force the Penmen to answer. Sanders' long runner as time expired was too strong and Stonehill escaped with the win.
Freshman Daquaise Andrews (Queens, N.Y.) registered nine points (4-10 FG, 1-3 FT) and six rebounds, while junior Devin Gilligan (Amherst, N.H.) added eight points (4-8 FG), 11 boards, and two assists. Walters had his 17-game double-digit scoring streak snapped as he netted six points (1-7 FG, 1-1 3-FG, 3-4 FT), pulled down nine rebounds, and handed out three helpers.
Sanders set the tone early as two straight 3-pointers gave Southern New Hampshire a 6-0 lead under a minute in. An 11-3 Stonehill run – with five points from Smith – put the Skyhawks on top, 14-12, with just under 12 minutes remaining in the opening half.
The Stonehill lead was one over two-and-a-half minutes later when back-to-back 3-pointers from Harris, followed by consecutive trifectas from Sanders, triggered a 19-2 landslide that gave Southern New Hampshire a 35-19 advantage with over a minute to play. SNHU would go into the locker room with a 37-21 lead.
Sanders opened the second half with a jumper that nudged the Penmen lead to 39-21 – its largest margin of the game – just 40 seconds in. Stonehill reacted with an 11-2 run that featured four points each from Logan and Bess, as well as three from Bramanti, to trim the deficit to 41-32 fewer than four minutes into the stanza.
SNHU pushed the lead back to 13 less than a minute later, but eight straight points from Stonehill slashed the gap to just five at 47-42 at the 11:26 mark. The teams then traded baskets twice before the Skyhawks made their big move.
Notes:
-SNHU's 23 wins, combined with the 24 from last season, mark the first back-to-back 20-win seasons for the Penmen since 2003-04 and 2004-05.
-In its 19th NCAA Tournament appearance, SNHU falls to 27-19 (.587) all-time in the Big Dance and loses an East Regional tilt for the first time in five contests.
-SNHU loses for just the third time in 16 games and sees its six-game winning streak come to an end.
-The Penmen had won six of their last seven games away from the SNHU Fieldhouse, including four straight. In those four, Southern New Hampshire has recorded wins against seed Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5 in the East Regional before falling to the 4-seed on a neutral court Sunday.
-SNHU drops to 18-6 when leading at the half. Five of those losses came when the Penmen led by 18 or more, including a 69-66 loss at Stonehill on Feb. 20.
-Southern New Hampshire outshot Stonehill, 44.1 percent (30-68) to 43.1 percent (31-72), including 45.5 percent (10-22) to 32.1 percent (9-28) from beyond the arc and 48.3 percent (14-29) to 25.8 percent (8-31) overall in the opening half.
-Stonehill came back to shoot 56.1 percent (23-41) in the second half and overtime, combined, while the Penmen posted a 41 percent (16-39) mark over the same stretch.
-The game was called pretty loosely as the teams went to the line a combined 13 times.
-The Penmen outrebounded the Skyhawks, 44-38, while Stonehill owned the paint, 42-28, and featured a better assist-to-turnover ratio (16/4 – 14/11) to the tune of a 10-2 margin in points off turnovers.
-This marked the final game for seniors Sanders, Cardarelli, and Kostas Mantalvanos (Athens, Greece).
-Sanders finishes fifth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,945 points, while his 682 points this season rank third in the SNHU record book – just 23 points shy of the top mark. Sanders' 254 career 3-pointers made ranks fourth and his 104 from this season are the third-best mark in a single campaign.
-Cardarelli's 192 career treys rank eighth all-time, while Walters' 185 free throws made this season place second and are just four short of the record.
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