Men's Basketball Drops Close Contest to Southern New Hampshire, 84-80
Box Score
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Dec. 30, 2011) – The Southern New Hampshire Penmen rallied from a first-half deficit and managed to stay ahead in a tight game to deal the C.W. Post men's basketball team it's third straight loss in a 84-80 non-conference affair at the Pratt Recreation Center on Saturday night.
C.W. Post slid to 7-4 overall while SNHU improved to 7-5 overall.
The game was tight early as the teams knotted the score at six, eight and ten points. But the Pioneers managed to pull away just a bit with five unanswered points that gave them a 15-10 cushion at 13:36. They slowly pushed their lead into double digits, taking a 29-19 lead with 6:57 remaining in the first half.
But Southern New Hampshire chipped away as the half drew to a close, cutting the Pioneer advantage to only two points, 41-39, before
Stefan Bonneau's (Middletown, N.Y.) pull-up jumper with eight seconds remaining, giving C.W. Post a 43-39 lead at the break.
The Penmen came out of the half and immediately cut the deficit back to two, and then tied the game at 17:59, 44-44. The Pioneers pulled ahead again, leading by 10 (57-47) at the 14:33 mark courtesy of a 13-3 run, but Southern N.H. continued to battle, cutting the Pioneer lead down to two on a three-point play by Tory Stapleton. A three-pointer by Josh Morgan-Green at 11:10 put the Penmen ahead for the first time since the early minutes of play, 58-57.
The Pioneers stayed within striking distance, several times closing to within just one or two points, and tied the game at 76-76 with just over two minutes to play, but the Pioneers were hurt by a poor showing from the free throw line as they missed three opportunities with under three to play, while the Penmen took advantage from the line, making 8-of-8 from the stripe to seal the win, 84-80.
Stapleton's 19 points off the bench paced the Penmen, who also got 17 points from reserve guard Greg DeSantis. Morgan-Green chipped in with 15 for the visitors.
Bonneau led the Pioneers with a game-high 22 points, while
Vaughn Allen (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) had a strong game with a 17-point, 14-rebound double-double.
Tobin Carberry (Hamden, Conn.) scored 12 and
Vince Rosario (Newark, N.J.) added 10 points in the effort.
The Pioneers held a 43-38 advantage on the boards and shot a respectable 27-64 from the floor (42.2%), but the hosts were hurt by a 13-21 showing from the free throw line in the second half, and shot just 64.5% from the charity stripe for the game.
The Penmen overwhelmed the Pioneers with a 50-28 edge in points in the paint, and got a far better performance from their bench, outscoring the Pioneer reserves 42-16.
C.W. Post is at home next on January 4, as it hosts Bridgeport in the first contest of 2012, beginning the conference-play portion of the schedule at 7 p.m.