Tweet #gogoldenknights

---

MANCHESTER, N.H.-The College of Saint Rose came back from a nine point deficit with 1:22 to go only to fall 65-63 to host Southern New Hampshire in tonight's Northeast-10 Conference Championship semifinal encounter. The defending league champion Penmen (21-7) will now host Saint Anselm in in Saturday's 1:00 pm final with an NCAA Tournament automatic berth on the line. The Hawks advanced with this evening's 71-68 triumph at Le Moyne.
 
"I am proud of the grit our guys showed against a very talented SNHU team. We battled and continued to battle until the buzzer. We just needed another minute tonight, said head coach Brian Beaury. "The good news is this team should be rewarded with an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament."
 
Senior forward Chris Dorgler rattled off seven unanswered points to get the Golden Knights (24-7) to within a bucket. Dorgler finished inside, drained a 3-pointer, and then made a pair from the stripe to make it a two point ballgame with 54 ticks showing on the clock.
 
Saint Rose then forced the Penmen (21-7) to violate the shot clock on their next possession, which gave the Golden Knights the ball with 22 seconds remaining. However, Saint Rose turned the ball over itself with five seconds left that allowed Southern New Hampshire to dribble out the clock and run its home record to 16-0 on the year.
 
The contest was close throughout with a pair of ties and six lead changes. Neither team was able to generate more than the aforementioned nine point advantage as well.
 
Dorgler led Saint Rose with 15 points and five rebounds, while senior forward Tyler Sayre added 11 points on 4-for-9 shooting. Senior guard Damon Coleman contributed 10 points and three assists.
 
Meanwhile, sophomore guard Daquaise Andrews led all scorers with 24 points and senior forward Devin Gilligan added 18 for the Penmen, who have won five of their last six.
 
The Golden Knights went on an 18-5 run to open up a 21-13 advantage midway through the opening frame, but Southern New Hampshire held Saint Rose to a pair of field goals the rest of the way to take a 31-26 lead at intermission.
 
Saint Rose twice knotted the score throughout the second half and took a 53-52 lead with 6:57 remaining after Sayre put back an offensive rebound. However, the Penmen countered with a 13-3 run that put themselves up nine, 65-56, and set up a wild finish in front of an energetic near sell-out crowd of 1,185.

---

NOTES: The NCAA selection show is scheduled for 10:30 pm Sunday…The last time Saint Rose won 24 games was in 1998-99 when the Golden Knights went 26-6 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight in Louisville…Saint Rose is again receiving votes in both the D2SIDA and NABC national weekly polls…The Golden Knights have still won 12 of their last 15…They are second in the NE10 in FT% (78.5), scoring defense (68.3), and steals (6.7), and are fourth in FG% (47.7) and assists (16.3)…Eight players are seeing at least 11.9 minutes of playing time and five are averaging at least 9.9 points with Sayre leading the way at 13.0 ppg.

---

Sign up for our E-Newsletter for the latest news by clicking here, and for information on the Golden Knights Club, click here. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagra