Box Score BOX SCORE
When and Where: January 27, 2018 – Manchester, N.H. (SNHU Fieldhouse)
Score: University of New Haven 69, Southern New Hampshire University 64
Records: UNH 12-7 (9-5 NE10), SNHU 11-8 (7-7 NE10)
Senior Chris Walters (Stamford, Conn.) and junior Daquaise Andrews (Queens, N.Y.) recorded 23 and 21 points, respectively, but the Southern New Hampshire University men's basketball team saw an 11-point, second-half lead disappear as the University of New Haven came away with a 69-64 victory Saturday at the SNHU Fieldhouse.
Walters was 9-for-15 from the field, including 3-for-6 from deep, and 2-for-4 from the line, while grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing a pair of assists. Andrews went 6-for-14 from the floor, including 2-for-4 from downtown, and 7-for-8 from the stripe, to go with five boards and three assists.
Danny Upchurch paced the Chargers with 20 points.
Five points from Andrews powered a game-opening 8-2 run over the first 3:43 of the contest before a 9-2 counter-run – with the final seven points coming from Roy Kane Jr. – put New Haven into the lead at 11-10 with 13:27 remaining in the opening half. The game of runs continued as a 12-2 burst – featuring seven points from Walters – pushed the Penmen lead to 22-13 at the 6:09 mark.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Upchurch slashed the New Haven deficit to three before five points each from Walters and junior Remo Simankevicius (Melbourne, Australia) made up a 10-0 blitz that gave SNHU its largest lead of the game at 32-19 with 1:13 on the clock. The Penmen would bring a 34-25 lead into the locker room.
A pair of Andrews buckets stretched the Southern New Hampshire lead to 38-27 within the first two minutes of the second half before seven straight from the Chargers trimmed their deficit to 38-34 with 16:50 to go. Following a three-point play from junior Charlie Russo (Syracuse, N.Y.), a 10-0 run – bookended by treys from Upchurch – catapulted New Haven into the lead at 44-41 with 12:36 to play.
Buckets from Walters and Andrews gave the Penmen what would be their final lead of the afternoon at 45-44 just inside the 11-minute mark, before an 8-2 run – with five points from Derrick Rowland, who gave the Chargers the lead for good at 50-47 with a trey at the 9:33 mark – put New Haven in front, 52-47 with 8:44 to go.
The margin was eight when five straight points from Andrews whittled the SNHU deficit to three at 58-55 with 4:37 left, but that was as close as the hosts would get, as New Haven scored eight straight – highlighted by 3-pointers from Upchurch and Rowland – to put itself in the driver's seat a 66-55 with 2:12 remaining.
Walters then scored all nine points during a 9-2 burst that pulled the Penmen within 68-64 with less than three seconds on the clock, but it was too late.
Simankevicius chimed in with a season-high seven points (3-3 FG, 1-1 3-FG), while Russo added six (2-6 FG, 1-4 3-FG, 1-1 FT). Sophomore Eamonn Joyce (Medford, Mass.) posted five points (2-3 FG, 1-2 3-FG) and five rebounds. Senior Dimitri Floras (Merrimack, N.H.) tallied two points (2-4 FT), five assists and three steals.
Notes:
-After beginning the season with nine straight victories, Southern New Hampshire has lost eight of 10 and drops six straight for the first time since Dec. 9, 2006-Jan. 8, 2007, when it lost eight-in-a-row.
-Walters' double-double is his 11th of the season and 32nd of his career.
-New Haven outshot Southern New Hampshire from the field, 46.6 percent (27-58) to 43.1 percent (22-51), and the line, 75 percent (3-4) to 70.6 percent (12-17), while SNHU was better from beyond the arc, 42.1 percent (8-19) to 41.4 percent (12-29).
-The Penmen held advantages in points off turnovers (15-9) and second chance points (20-10), while the Chargers won the glass (35-29) and the paint (24-22), in addition to featuring a slightly better assist-to-turnover ratio (15/12-11/9).
Up Next:
The Penmen return to action Wednesday, Jan. 31 (7:30 p.m.) when they play host to Saint Michael's College at the Fieldhouse in a game that will air on WGIR 610-AM.
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