ALBANY, N.Y. – The College of Saint Rose held off visiting Southern New Hampshire 80-76 in today's first-round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship inside the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium.
The Golden Knights (14-11) will now visit nationally ranked Bentley (#20/#13) in a quarterfinal Monday. Tip-off is at 7:30 pm in Waltham, Mass. The Falcons (19-4), who grabbed an 83-68 win in Albany earlier this season, earned a first-round bye as the top seed in the Northeast Division.
This afternoon's affair was in doubt until the final buzzer with 10 lead changes, 13 ties, and neither team generating more than a six-point advantage throughout the entire 40 minutes.
Saint Rose shot 49.2 percent (29-for-59) from the floor and 37.9 percent (11-for-29) from the arc, while the Penmen (13-11) converted only 28.6 percent (8-for-28) of their attempts from long distance.
The Golden Knights also put five players in double-figures scoring for the second time in their last three outings to run their win streak to four games.
"What a great NE10 playoff game. I thought our guys really battled defensively and on the glass. We made some huge plays offensively down the stretch. All seven of our guys got into the scoring column, which gave us a lot of balance. We look forward to going to Bentley for Monday's contest," said head coach
Mike Perno.
Freshman forward
Shane O'Dell led the way with a game-high 24 points to go along with four assists and five blocks, while sophomore forward
Eric Fleming finished with a season-high 17 points and six rebounds. Sophomore swing
Cartier Bowman recorded a "double-double" behind 11 points and a season-best 13 boards, while fifth year guard
Adam Anderson and freshman guard
Tray Alexander added 12 and 11 points respectively.
Freshman forward Jordan Braithwaite recorded 21 points and 12 rebounds, and fellow freshman forward Derrick Grant wound up with 12 points and nine caroms to pace Southern New Hampshire. Freshman guard Aaron Gray and senior guard Corry Long contributed 16 and 15 points respectively.
Saint Rose put itself over the top by limiting the Penmen to one field goal throughout the final 1:26.
The Golden Knights were clinging to a one point, 75-74, lead when Anderson knocked down a clutch 3-pointer from the left corner with 59 seconds remaining. At the other end, O'Dell came up with a block on Southern New Hampshire's ensuing possession with 15 seconds left.
The Penmen were then forced to foul. O'Dell made both of his attempts to make it 79-74 with 13 ticks showing, and Alexander went 1-for-2 to seal it in the final two seconds after sophomore guard Noah Kamba finished a fast break for Southern New Hampshire.
Notes: O'Dell is fourth among the NE10 leaders with a 19.8 scoring average, and stands ninth with 7.0 rebounds per game…Alexander and Anderson are averaging 12.8 ppg and 11.2 ppg respectively…Alexander has been in double-figures scoring throughout 14 of the past 15 contests…He is 10th in the country and tops the NE10 with a 5.9 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 1,355 career points…He needs 11 more to move ahead of Andre Pope (2009-13) into 15th place…Saint Rose has averaged 82.3 points on 49.8 percent (118-for-237) shooting from the floor throughout its four-game win streak.
Saint Rose in the NE10 Championship: The Golden Knights have advanced to the NE10 Championship in 18 of their 22 years of league membership although the tournament was canceled last year. Saint Rose has made seven semifinal appearances (2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, and 2017) and advanced to the 2007 championship game that Bentley won 71-61. The Golden Knights most recent appearance prior to this year came in 2017-18 when they fell 68-65 in a quarterfinal encounter at Bentley. Saint Rose garnered an NCAA berth that season as well, advancing to the East Regional semifinal.
Sign up for our E-Newsletter for the latest news by
clicking here, visit our team store by
clicking here, and for information on the Golden Knights Club,
click here. Follow us on
Twitter,
Facebook, and
Instagram.
