COLCHESTER, Vt. – Senior guard
Michael Wearne knocked down a jumper after it bounced on the rim a few times with three seconds remaining to lift The College of Saint Rose to tonight's 68-66 victory at Saint Michael's. Sophomore forward
Sekou Sylla came away with a steal with 29 seconds remaining to set the stage for Wearne after both squads had come up empty on their previous trips up the floor.
The game was close throughout as neither squad was able to generate more than a six-point advantage while forging 17 lead changes and nine ties.
Sylla recorded his fourth "double-double" of the young season with 26 points and a career-high 19 rebounds to lead the Golden Knights (3-2). Wearne and freshman guard
Manasseh Small finished with eight points apiece, while sophomore guard
Tyler Washington passed out a career-best six assists.
"It was a really fun game to be a part of and I thought our guys made some real solid plays down the stretch. Sekou was dominant on the offensive end and it was great to see (Michael) Fuzzy Wearne hit a big time shot to lead us to victory," said head coach
Mike Perno.
Saint Rose appeared to be in good shape after senior guard
Adam Anderson drained a 3-pointer to give the Golden Knights (3-2) a 64-59 lead with 4:29 to play. However, Saint Michael's (2-4) senior guard Jordan Guzman answered with a trey of his own and after the Golden Knights came up empty, senior forward Eli DiGrande went 1-for-2 from the stripe to cut the Purple Knights' deficit to one.
Sylla then finished inside to push the lead back to three, but Saint Rose came up empty again on its next possession after Guzman went 1-for-2 from the line to make it a two-point, 66-64, ballgame. Another scoreless possession followed by a Guzman bucket deadlocked it for the final time.
DiGrande led four Saint Michael's players in twin-figures with 13 points. Guzman wound up with 12, while freshman forward Kasai Brown and junior forward Jason Heter tossed in 11 apiece.
Looking ahead, both teams open the Northeast-10 Conference portion of their 2019-20 dockets Saturday at 3:30 pm. The Golden Knights host Adelphi in the second half of a league doubleheader, while Saint Michael's travels to North Easton, Mass. to face Stonehill.
Notes: Anderson was named to the NE10 weekly honor roll Monday.
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