When and Where: December 9, 2021 – Orangeburg, N.Y. (Hennessy Center)
Score: Southern New Hampshire University 84, #9/14 Dominican (N.Y.) 79
Records: SNHU 6-4, DC 8-1

STANDOUT PERFORMERS

• Becht – 19 points (5-8 FG, 3-4 3-FG, 6-7 FT), 4 rebounds, 2 steals
• Gray – 19 points (5-11 FG, 2-8 3-FG, 7-9 FT), 6 rebounds, 3 steals
• Freshman Ethan Okwuosa (No. Haven, Conn.) – career-high 14 points (5-7 FG, 1-1 3-FG, 5-8 FT), 2 rebounds
• Sophomore Noah Kamba (Lynn, Mass.) – 12 points (5-9 FG, 2-5 3-FG), 5 rebounds, 4 assists

KEY MOMENTS

• Southern New Hampshire, which trailed by as many as eight in the opening half, was down seven with a little over seven minutes to go before the break when a Becht 3-pointer triggered a 10-2 rush that catapulted the Penmen into the lead at 30-29 with 4:16 on the clock. SNHU would go into the locker room with a 38-37 edge.
• Dominican held a three-point lead with five-and-a-half minutes to go when a Gray triple sparked a 12-2 blitz that opened up a 69-62 advantage for the Penmen with 3:51 left. Gray powered the run with seven points. The Chargers would get as close as 82-79 with six seconds left, but a pair of free throws from senior Corry Long (Cincinnati, Ohio) sealed it.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Long tallied nine points (2-9 FG, 1-4 3-FG, 4-5 FT), three rebounds and three assists.
• Freshman Derrick Grant (Plainfield, N.J.) posted a career-best eight points (4-5 FG) and five boards.
• Junior Ryan Layman (Wrentham, Mass.) scored one point (1-2 FT) and grabbed eight rebounds.
• SNHU outshot Dominican, 46.4 percent (26-56) to 41 percent (25-61), including 34.6 percent (9-26) to 26.1 percent (6-23) from beyond the arc.
• The teams shot a combined 60 free throws, with the Chargers holding a 79.3 percent (23-29) to 74.2 percent (23-31) edge from the stripe.
• The Penmen narrowly won the glass (37-36), scored more points off mistakes (14-12) and second chance points (10-9), received more bench scoring (24-20) and turned in a slightly better assist-to-turnover ratio (12/16-11/16). Points in the paint were even (30-30).

NOTES

• Southern New Hampshire, which had dropped four of its previous five, snapped a two-game slide with the win.
• Dominican, ranked ninth in the Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) National Media Poll and 14th in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Rankings, had won eight straight to begin the year with an average margin of victory of 12.5 points.
• SNHU improves to 3-1 all-time against the Chargers and have now captured three straight in the series. This was the first time the teams met at Dominican.
• Kamba averaged 3.3 points per game over his first four contests, but is now scoring 13.8 per game over his last six.
• Becht has scored in double figures in five straight.

WHAT'S NEXT

• The Penmen return to action Saturday, Dec. 18 (3 p.m.) when they play host to Pace University in a non-conference game that will air live on WGIR 610-AM at the Stan Spirou Field House.

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