|
| Matt Hall finished his career with 1,007 points for the Skyhawks. |
Cold Second Half Shooting Dooms Skyhawks
Brookville, N.Y. - In the Skyhawks' first NCAA appearance in three years, Stonehill jumped out to a 28-23 halftime lead, but was outscored by 15 in the final 20 minutes to fall to Assumption 61-59 in a Northeast Regional Quarterfinal on Saturday evening at the Pratt Recreation Center.
The Skyhawks shot just 1-9 from downtown and 33 percent from the field in the second half, while giving up 36 points to the Greyhounds who didn't find their touch until after intermission.
In the first half, it was Stonehill who jumped on top first with a layup by A.J. Rudowitz (Monroe Township, N.J.) to open the game. After his bucker however, both teams exchanged baskets through the first four minutes.
The Skyhawks then went on an 8-0, capped off by triples from Nick Smith (Colonia, N.J.) and Randall Stallworth (Toms River, N.J.) to give Stonehill an 18-11 advantage ten minutes into the contest.
Following an Assumption timeout, the Greyhounds responded with their own 8-0 run over the next two minutes to take back the lead.
Over the next four and a half minutes Stonehill used threes from Matt Hall (Springfield, Mass.) and Rudowitz, and a driving layup from Kevin Wilkins (New Windsor, N.Y.) sandwiched between two Assumption scores to grab a 26-23 lead with 3:19 left in the half.
Both teams added a bucket before the half, giving The Skyhawks a 28-25 lead after the first 20 minutes of play.
Mike Balderelli opened the second with a layup to cut the Skyhawk lead to one, Stonehill responded a minute later with a drive by Colin Scanlon (Centereville, Va.) to increase the lead back to three, but the Greyhounds scored six straight to take a 34-30 lead.
The Skyhawks managed to tie it up on consecutive buckets by Rudowitz, but a score by Balderelli and a steal and layin on the inbound pass by Savoy Fraine pushed the lead back up to four. Six consecutive points, including a Balderelli triple, pushed the lead to 10 with 14:34 left.
Stonehill called a timeout, but were unable to score out of the break and Assumption took advantage as Shea hit his second three of the game and another by Greg Twomey stretched the lead to 16.
The Greyhounds pushed the lead to 17 at 51-34 before Rudowitz scored at the 10:41 mark to end a nearly six minute scoring drough.
The Skyhawks couldn't convert on their next two possessions, while Balderelli and Savoy combined to go 3-4 from the line and push the lead to 18 with just under ten minutes remaining.
Stonehill cut the lead to 54-38 on a Mike Kernan (Medford, N.J.) jumper with 7:09 left, but the Skyhawks went another three minutes without a bucket as the lead once again got as high at 18.
Two layups by Hall briefly cut the lead to 14 but a coast to coast layup by Savoy pushed it up to 16 once again with 3:14 left.
Over the final three minutes the Skyhawks got within 12 twice, once on a Stallworth three and then on a Rudowitz rebound and put back, but could never cut it any closer, falling 61-49.
Coach Dave McLaughlin was disappointed with the loss but was proud of his five seniors. "This was the first group of guys that I recruited and that went through four years. They made Stonehill synonymous with "a program", and showed the ability to develop as leaders and people while here."
Rudowitz led the way with 15 points for Stonehill and seven rebounds. Hall joined him in double figures with 10, including the 1000th of his career, finishing with 1,007. Kernan added six points and pulled down a career high 15 rebounds to go along with two blocks as the Skyhawks ended their season at 21-8.