ALBANY – Senior forward Evan Lane registered career-highs of 30 points and 17 rebounds to power The College of Saint Rose men's basketball team past visiting Saint Michael's 77-71 in a Northeast-10 Conference contest this afternoon at the Daniel P. Nolan gymnasium. Lane wound up shooting 12-for-16 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the stripe before fouling out with 2:54 on the clock.
Saint Rose (3-4/2-3 NE-10), which snapped a mini two-game skid, defeated the Purple Knights for the sixth straight time and improved to 4-1 this season on Mike Long Court. The Golden Knights trailed only once after Saint Michael's freshman forward Tyler Schilling opened the game with a jumper. Saint Rose answered with a 14-4 run, with Lane accounting for eight points during the outburst that put the Golden Knights in front for good.
The Purple Knights (5-3/3-3 NE-10) made things interesting down the stretch. After trailing by 11, 69-58, with five minutes remaining, Saint Michael's sophomore guard Nate Birr scored six straight points to cut the deficit to five, 69-64, with 4:11 remaining. However, junior guard Jermaine Clark buried a 3-pointer and Lane finished on the baseline to boost the Saint Rose advantage back to eight, 74-66, with just over three minutes on the clock.
Down the stretch, Clark went 1-for-2 from the stripe on consecutive trips and freshman guard Shea Bromirski provided the final six-point margin by going 1-for-2 himself with 14 seconds left.
Clark recorded 13 of his 18 points throughout the final 20 minutes and Bromirski added 12 points to help the Golden Knights' cause. Saint Rose was also able to generate 23 points off 17 turnovers by the Purple Knights and owned a 47-39 edge on the boards.
Saint Michael's had three players reach double-figures behind Birr's 20 points. Meanwhile, freshman guard Alex Berthiaume finished with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists and Schilling contributed 10 points and eight caroms.
The Golden Knights are scheduled to host perennial NE-10 powerhouse Bentley University at 7:30 pm Monday. The game will be aired live on Time Warner Sports Channel 3 as CBS Channel 6 Sports Director Doug Sherman handles the play-by-play responsibilities along with Saint Rose 2008 Hall of Fame Inductee Roger Powers ('97). The Purple Knights will spend the next week preparing for a league contest at Le Moyne College that is scheduled to tip-off at 3:00 pm next Saturday.
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