SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The College of Saint Rose held off a late American International rally for the second consecutive night to close out its regular season campaign on a high note with this evening's 73-68 Northeast-10 Conference victory in Springfield.
In the process, the Golden Knights (13-11/10-9 NE10) ran their win streak to three games heading into Friday's NE10 Championship first-round encounter. Saint Rose, a fourth seed in the Southwest Division, will host Southern New Hampshire at 7:00 pm inside the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium. The Penmen (13-10/9-9 NE10) are a fifth seed from the Northeast Division.
As for tonight, the Golden Knights owned a 20-point second half lead for the second straight night against the Yellow Jackets (6-22/3-16 NE10) only to see it dwindle in the final moments.
"It is never easy playing back to back nights especially in the NE10 and against the same opponent, but I thought our guys played very hard and handled their business. We played terrific on the defensive end, especially in the first half, and now we need to get some rest and get ready to go Friday at home for the NE10 playoffs against a very good Southern New Hampshire team," said Head Coach
Mike Perno.
Freshman forward
Shane O'Dell led Saint Rose with an efficient game-high of 28 points behind 12-for-19 shooting. He also pulled down seven rebounds and came up with a pair of steals. Sophomore forward
Eric Fleming contributed 16 points and six boards, while freshman guard
Tray Alexander added 14 points.
Graduate student guard Xion Golding recorded a "double-double" of 23 points and 13 rebounds to pace the Yellow Jackets. Junior forward Frankyn Batista and freshman forward Tyrae Washington finished with 16 and 14 points respectively.
Saint Rose got off to a great start by holding American International to 25.8 percent (8-for-31) shooting in the first half that helped generate a 41-21 lead with 17:57 remaining in the game. The Golden Knights were still up 16 points at 53-37 with 10:12 to go after Fleming went 1-for-2 from the stripe.
However, the Yellow Jackets ran off seven unanswered points to get to within single digits and kept chipping away until they got to within three, 69-66, after Golding finished inside with 27 seconds remaining. They ultimately ran out of time though as O'Dell and Alexander both canned a pair of free throws over the final 21 seconds to seal the victory.
Saint Rose shot 50.0 percent (9-for-18) from the arc to help its own cause, while American International converted only 23.5 percent (4-for-17) of its attempts from long range.
The Yellow Jackets will travel to Rindge, N.H. to face Franklin Pierce for their first round contest Friday.
Notes: Tonight marked the final leg of a three-game, four-day stretch for the Golden Knights…O'Dell is fourth among the NE10 leaders with a 19.6 scoring average, and stands ninth with 7.1 rebounds per game…Alexander and fifth year guard
Adam Anderson are averaging 12.9 ppg and 11.2 ppg respectively…Alexander has been in double-figures scoring throughout 13 of the past 14 contests…He is seventh in the country and tops the NE10 with a 6.0 assists average…He also leads the league with 2.3 steals per outing…Anderson sits 16th on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,343 career points…He needs 23 more to move ahead of Andre Pope (2009-13) into 15th place…Southern New Hampshire defeated Saint Rose 83-65 in their lone match-up this season, which took place in Manchester.
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