Junior Ivan Almeida posted his second career double-double with career-highs of 18 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots today. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr)

Almeida leads nearly three double-double performances with career-best 18 points and 15 rebounds

Junior swing player Ivan Almeida (Praia, Cape Verde) led Stonehill, which nearly had three players notch double-doubles, with career-bests of 18 points, 15 rebounds (seven offensive) and four blocked shots for the second double-double of his career. He made 7-of-17 shots from the field, including 2-for-5 from three-point range, while converting 2-of-4 free throws.

Junior Patrick Lee (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) posted his first career double-double as he added 17 points, shooting 8-of-10 from the field, and a career-high matching ten rebounds to go with two assists and two blocks. Senior Mike Kernan (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) added a season-best 12 rebounds and nine points as Stonehill out-rebounded C.W. Post by a 51-35 margin.

Junior Patrick Lee also collected a double-double with 17 points and a career-high matching ten rebounds. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr)

Sophomore Brian Hamor (Guilderland, N.Y./Bishop Gibbons) finished with 12 points off the bench for Stonehill, while senior Daniel Heppert (Richmond, Va./Benedictine) chipped in with 11 points and six boards. Sophomore Sam Markle (Bethany, Conn./Saint Thomas More) dished out a career-best seven assists in the win.

Senior Aaron Hall (Syracuse, N.Y./St. Thomas Moore Prep) led C.W. Post with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-21 shooting from the field and draining all four free-throw attempts to go with four rebounds and three steals. Freshman Vaughn Allen (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Mount Vernon) added ten points and a team-high nine rebounds off the bench, while sophomore Tobin Carberry (Hamden, Conn.) chipped in nine points and seven boards.

Stonehill finished shooting 47.6-percent (30-for-63) from the field, including 14-of-28 (50%) in the second half. C.W. Post was held to 32.9-percent (23-for-70) shooting, including 6-for-21 (28.6%) from three-point range, making just 28.2% (11-39) of its shots in the second half.

Stonehill led virtually start to finish, scoring 12 of the first 16 points on the afternoon to stake out an early lead after an Almeida three-pointer and Kernan layup four minutes in. The Skyhawks lead reached double-figures for the first time (25-15) following a layup by junior Andre Tongo (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxborough) just past the midway point of the first half and grew to as much as 13 (37-24) after two free-throws from Heppert with 1:14 remaining in the half.

Stonehill settled for a ten point (39-29) halftime lead, but quickly made it 13 again (42-29) after an Almeida three to start the second half. The Skyhawks lead reached 14 (53-39) after an Almeida put-back dunk six minutes into the half, but C.W. Post responded with eight-straight points to draw within six (53-47) after a layup off a steal by sophomore Jonathan Kohler (Bordentown, N.J./Bordentown) with 11:30 to play.

Stonehill answered with an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to regain its 15-point lead (64-49) after a Hamor layup with 7:18 remaining. C.W. Post chipped away again, closing within six (67-61) on a Hall three with 2:53 on the clock. The Pioneers continued to close the gap, drawing within four (69-65) after two Allen free-throws with 1:51 to go, but the Skyhawks held tough and made five-of-six free throws to go with a Lee layup to work the lead back up to 11 (76-65) with 32-seconds left and seal the win.

Stonehill (2-0, 0-0 NE-10) is right back in action on Wednesday when it opens defense of its Northeast-10 Conference regular season championship by hosting Franklin Pierce University at Merkert Gymnasium at 7:30 p.m. C.W. Post (1-1, 0-0 ECC) is off until Sunday, November 28, when it visits Post University at 3:30 p.m.