MANCHESTER, NH – The College of Saint Rose men's basketball team struggled for the second consecutive game down the stretch by converting only two field goals throughout the final seven minutes to suffer a 62-57 setback at seventh-seed Southern New Hampshire this afternoon in the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament.

The Golden Knights (11-17), who had never dropped their first tournament game in their eight-year tenure in the league heading into today, went almost 10 minutes without a field goal in their previous 88-79 overtime loss at Saint Anselm Tuesday night. The drought allowed the host Penmen (17-11) to win their fifth straight game and earn a berth in the quarterfinal round of the NE-10 Tournament at second-seed UMass Lowell Monday night.

Trailing 32-31 to start the second half, freshman forward Brian Hanuschak tipped in a miss by junior guard Jermaine Clark to put Saint Rose up one, 33-32. However, Southern New Hampshire outscored the Golden Knights 16-5 over the next 6:26 to take its largest lead of the afternoon, 48-38, with 12:47 remaining.

The Golden Knights responded in a big way by embarking on a 15-0 outburst that covered a five and a half minute span to make it a 53-48 ballgame with 7:17 to go. Freshman guard Shea Bromirski and Clark drained back-to-back 3-pointers to ignite the run and junior guard Brian Ledbetter cashed in off a feed from freshman guard James Wilson to punctuate things.

The Penmen rattled off six straight points to regain their lead 54-53 following a 3-pointer by junior guard Stephen Wood. Clark buried a jumper at the other end to put Saint Rose back on top 55-54, but both clubs struggled to find any continuity on the offensive end at that point. Southern New Hampshire sophomore guard Tory Stapleton finally ended a three minute dry spell by both teams with a layup at the 2:46 mark and that put the Penmen in front for good, 56-55.

Both squads played each other fairly evenly, as past history suggested prior to tip-off. Of the 23 meetings in the exciting series between two of the nation's most venerable NCAA Division II institutions, 12 have been decided by five points or less. The Golden Knights shot 42.0 percent (21-for-50) from the floor, while Southern New Hampshire hit 41.2 percent (21-for-51) of its attempts. The biggest disparity today came at the foul line where the Penmen were granted 21 free throws compared to just eight for Saint Rose. Additionally, Southern held a 35-27 margin on the glass.

Clark was in double-figures scoring for the 23rd time this season with 27 points on the strength of 5-for-10 shooting from the arc. In the process, Clark surpassed assistant coach Mike Perno ('00) for fifth place on the College's all-time 3-pointer list (181). Bromirski finished with 13 points and Hanuschak contributed 11 points while tying his season-high with seven boards.

Sophomore forward Cory Vejraska recorded a “double-double” for Southern New Hampshire with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while senior guard Troy Bowen and Wood added 11 and nine points respectively. 

Box Score