Taylor Notches Double-Double Effort Of 23 Points And 10 Rebounds As 12th-Ranked Men's Basketball Earns Trip To NCAA Sweet Sixteen With 69-54 Victory Over Adelphi In Northeast Regional Semi-Finals

March 12, 2006

STONEHILL MEN'S BASKETBALL

2006 NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Semi-Finals

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Merkert Gymnasium, Easton, Mass.

FINAL:STONEHILL 69, ADELPHI 54

EASTON, Mass.-- Senior Marquis Taylor (Los Angeles, Calif.) notched his 16th career double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds and top-seeded and 12th-ranked Stonehill advanced to the NCAA Division II "Sweet Sixteen" for the first time in eight years with a 69-54 victory over fifth-seeded Adelphi in semi-final round play of the 2006 NCAA Northeast Regional Men's Basketball Championship Sunday evening at Merkert Gymnasium.

The host Skyhawks, now 25-6 overall, advance to the Northeast Regional championship game on Tuesday evening at Merkert Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m., as Stonehill will face sixth-seeded UMass Lowell (21-9) in the title contest with the winner earning a berth in the NCAA Division II "Elite Eight" on March 22nd in Springfield, Mass. The River Hawks advanced to the championship game with a 74-70 victory over second-seeded Saint Anselm in Sunday evening's first semi-final contest.

The first half featured scoring runs on both sides, as Stonehill jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead 1:32 into the contest before the visiting Panthers, who saw their 19-game winning streak come to an end in closing out the year at 27-5 overall, answered with a 17-2 run to take a seven-point cushion at 17-10 with 9:18 remaining. The Skyhawks responded with eight quick points to take a one-point lead and extended that to a bucket (28-26) at the break, and the hosts opened the half with a 12-2 run over the first 4:15 following intermission to open up a 40-28 lead with 15:45 to play on a three-pointer by senior Mike Lauricella (Norwood, N.J.). Stonehill maintained a double-digit lead for most of the remainder of the contest, as Adelphi got to within nine points on a pair of occasions in the final two minutes before a conventional three-point play by Taylor with one minute to go helped ice the Skyhawk triumph and the berth in the Sweet Sixteen.

"I'm happy for our players, especially our seniors, and I'm very excited for our school and for our program to be playing in the NCAA tournament and in the championship game," Stonehill Head Coach David McLaughlin said following the contest. "Our seniors have set a high standard all year long, and to advance to the regional final against a solid and well-coached UMass Lowell team is a challenge we look forward to."

Taylor became the 15th player in school history to surpass the 1,300 career point plateau with his scoring effort, while senior Chris Kraus (Markham, Ont.) chipped in with 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds in the win for Stonehill, which also received 10 points from junior Lance Clarke (Somerville, Mass.). Senior Sean Nelson (Milford, Mass.) chipped in with seven points, six assists and five rebounds for the Skyhawks, who shot 49 percent from the field and canned nine three-pointers, outscoring Adelphi by a 27-9 margin from behind the arc.

Senior Aaron Cummings (Bay Shore, N.Y.) led Adelphi in the scoring column with 16 points, while junior Kimani Blaize (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 12 points for the Panthers, who also received nine points from senior Ben Kenyon (Union, N.J.) as well as eight points from graduate student Sean Corrigan (Hicksville, N.Y.). Adelphi shot 40 percent from the field overall, but just 15 percent from three-point range, as the Panthers hit only 3-of-20 attempts from behind the three-point line.

Stonehill and UMass Lowell will meet for the third time this season in Tuesday night's NCAA Northeast Regional championship game, as the two teams split their two regular season meetings (both which were played in Lowell), with the Skyhawks posting an 80-68 victory on December 12th and the River Hawks notching a 59-55 triumph on February 7th.