THE BASICS
-Score: Stonehill College 82, Assumption College 76
-Records: Assumption (4-3, NE10 1-2), Stonehill (4-4, NE10 2-2)
-Location: Worcester, Mass. (Laska Gymnasium)
-The Lead: The Assumption College men's basketball team suffered a setback to the Skyhawks of Stonehill College in Northeast-10 Conference action on Sunday afternoon. The Hounds held a nine-point lead at the half before Stonehill outscored them 50-35 in the second for the 82-76 victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-Assumption started a seven-point run with a drive to the basket made by sophomore Cal Connelly (Rochester, N.H. / Spaulding / Tilton). Red-shirt junior Jordan White (Prince Frederick, Md. / Clinton Christian School) added five points in the run as the Hounds pulled ahead 27-18 with 8:13 to go in the first half. First year Kani Glover (Brockton, Mass. / Catholic Memorial / Bridgton Academy) made one from beyond the arc to extend Assumption's lead to nine, 30-21.
-Stonehill closed the gap to five with baskets by senior Will Moreton and junior Monty Urmilevicius with 1:22 on the clock, 35-30. The Hounds used a drive to the basket by red-shirt junior Malik Brown (Waldorf, Md. / Northpoint), a pair of free-throws by Connelly, and a fast break at the buzzer by freshman Isiah Gaiter (Meriden, Conn. / Sacred Heart High School / Huntington Prep) to regain a nine-point lead heading into the halftime break, 41-32.
-Assumption opened up scoring in the second half with three made free throws by Connelly. They took their largest lead of the game with a jumper and layup by junior Matthew Kelly (North Potomac, Md. / Quince Orchard) for the 13-point advantage with 17:34 on the clock, 48-35.
-With under eight minutes to play the Skyhawks put up eight unanswered points to take their first lead of the game. Junior Owen Chose knocked down a three with 7:06 to play to bring the visitors within two and Moreton made his way under the hoop to tie the game at 65-65. A pair of free throws by Chose gave Stonehill the 67-65 lead.
-Brown dished the ball to Fleming who was behind the arc for three to give the Hounds back the lead with 4:32 to play, 72-69. Stonehill made 11 free throws in the final four minutes of play and held strong on defense, allowing the Hounds to make their way to the charity stripe just two times in the final minutes, to capture the final 82-76 victory.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
-Kelly led the Hounds with 16 points to go along with six rebounds and six assists on the day. Brown and Connelly finished with 12 points each while Gaiter came off the bench with 10 points for the hosts.
-Chose led all scorers with 21 points. Moreton put up a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Brandon Twitty also scored 17 points in the victory. Sophomore Andrew Sims added 11 points and Urmilevicius finished with 10 points to round out double-digit scoring for the visitors.
-The Skyhawks edged Assumption in rebounding, 38-31.
-Stonehill shot 46% (29-63) from the field while the Hounds shot 44.6% (25-56).
-The Hounds shot 38.1% (8-21) from three-point range and Stonehill finished 33.3% (8-24) from behind the arc.
-Assumption shot 81.8% (18-22) from the free throw line while Stonehill finished shooting 80% (16-20) from the charity stripe.
-Both teams turned the ball over 10 times. Stonehill scored 16 points off of Assumption turnovers.
-The game saw a total of eight ties and 12 lead changes.
UP NEXT
-Assumption hosts Bentley in NE10 action on Wednesday, December 4th at 7:30 p.m.