FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2015
Penmen Use Balanced Attack to Win First Regional Crown in 20 Years
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - A stifling Southern New Hampshire defense held Southern Connecticut 32 points below its season average as the second-seeded Penmen captured the seventh regional title in program history with a 75-58 win over the fifth-seeded Owls in Tuesday's NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship East Region final at Butova Gymnasium.
The Penmen (24-7) advance to next week's Elite Eight, their first appearance since 1995, while the Owls, the defending regional champions, see their season come to a close at 24-8.
Rodney Sanders and Elijah Bonsignore each led So. New Hampshire with 13 points, while tournament Most Outstanding Player BJ Cardarelli and Phillip Tripodakis each had 12. Aleksandar Dobrovic was also named to the All-Tournament Team.
Southern Connecticut's Tylon Smith and Desmond Williams were also named to the All-Tournament team.
Smith led the Owls with 17 points, leading four Owls in double figures. Luke Houston and Michael Mallory had 13 points apiece, while Williams added 10 points.
So. New Hampshire led 33-29 at halftime and took a 40-34 lead with 16:11 left on a three by Cardarelli, but five straight points by the Owls, including a conventional three-point play by Smith at the 13:29 mark, pulled So. Connecticut within one, 40-39. The Penmen clung to a 49-45 lead following a Houston basket at the 9:57 mark, but scored eight straight points to take a 57-45 lead with just under five minutes to go following a Bonsignore basket.
Mallory broke the So. Connecticut drought with a conventional three-point play with 4:38 left to make it 57-48. The Owls cut the lead to nine one more time, on a pair of free throws by Houston with 3:43 left, but got no closer. So. New Hampshire closed the game on a 16-8 run and went 10-14 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to secure the victory.
Additional reporting for this release provided by the athletics communications staffs at Southern New Hampshire and Southern Connecticut.
About the Northeast-10 Conference
The Northeast-10 Conference is an association of 15 NCAA Division II colleges and universities located in New England and New York that is committed to supporting balanced academic and athletic opportunities for more than 6,500 student-athletes.
Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE-10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the Northeast-10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.
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