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Matt Hall's night included a personal 7-0 run and a two-handed dunk. |
North Easton, Mass. - Sophomore point guard Randall Stallworth (Toms River, N.J.) made four straight free throws and thwarted a potential game-tying basket with an amazing defensive play to help Stonehill turn back a pesky Southern Connecticut squad, 69-65 on Tuesday evening at Merkert Gymnasium.
The win for the Skyhawks, the eighth in their last nine games, keeps them firmly entrenched in a tie for third place in the Northeast-10 at 9-4 with Assumption.
After Stonehill opened the second half on a 13-6 run to take a 49-41 lead, the Owls fought back chipping the lead down until they eventually tied the game a 53-53 with a little under nine minutes to go.
A personal 7-0 run by Matt Hall (Springfield, Mass.), which featured two fast break layups, had the Skyhawks ahead 60-53 with six and a half minutes to go.
The Owls refused to go away however, putting together a 10-2 run over the next three minutes to take their first lead since they held a 20-19 advantage midway through the opening half.
A.J. Rudowitz (Monroe Township, N.J.) split a pair of free throws to even the score at 64 and after a stop on the defensive end, Stallworth was fouled on a drive to the basket. He sank both tries giving the lead back to the Skyhawks at 65-63 with 50 seconds left.
Southern Connecticut's Justin Gardenhire, who has success driving to the basket for most of the contest, this time was stripped by Stallworth as he attempted to drive the lane again. He immediately fouled Stallworth, who made both free throws upping the Stonehill advantage to 67-63 with 25 seconds left, sealing the victory.
In the early part of the first half, the Skyhawks made a concerted effort to get Rudowitz the ball inside and he responded, scoring 10 of his 13 points in the first 20 minutes, while also saddling the Owl post players with early fouls.
Despite Southern Connecticut's aggressive style of attacking the basket, Stonehill held a sizable edge in free throws, connecting on 24 of their season-high 36 attempts, while the Owls made four of the eight attempts. Southern Connecticut did control the boards at 41-32, led by Devon Sullivan's game-high 10 caroms.
The Skyhawks, who committed a season-low nine turnovers, took advantage of almost every Owl miscue, turning 15 errors into 24 points.
Nick Smith (Colonia, N.J.) led a quartet of Stonehill players in double figures with 16 points in 34 minutes, while Hall, like Rudowitz had 13, and Stallworth finished with his second double-double of the season, totaling 10 points and 10 assists.
Ktrice McNeill came off the bench to shoot eight of nine from the field to register 16 points and eight rebounds for the Owls, who fell to 6-11 overall. Gardenhire scored 11 points but was just 5-for-17 from the field and Derrick Corbett added 10 points and four rebounds.
Stonehill, now 13-7 overall, returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Pace for a 3:30 p.m. start.