Senior Randall Stallworth scored 16 of his team-best 21 points in the second half to lift the 18th-ranked Skyhawks past #14 Bentley tonight to sweep the regular season series. |
#18 Stonehill Sweeps #14 Bentley, 76-69
NE-10 Champion Skyhawks roll into postseason following 12th-straight road win
WALTHAM, Mass. (February 24, 2010) - Northeast-10 Conference regular season champion Stonehill College, ranked 18th in this week's National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II poll and first in the NCAA East Regional rankings released today, closed out the regular season with a 76-69 victory over 14th-ranked Bentley University, ranked second in the East Region, for a victory that will go a long way towards securing the top seed for the upcoming NCAA Division II East Regional at the Dana Athletic Center tonight.
Stonehill (23-4, 20-2 NE-10) will be the top seed in the upcoming NE-10 Tournament and will host a quarterfinal round matchup on Monday, March 1, at 7 p.m. The Skyhawks will face the winner of Saturday's first round clash between 9th-seeded Adelphi University and 8th-seeded American International College. Admission to Monday's game will be $7.00 for adults, $4.00 for senior citizens and students, with students with valid college ID admitted for $1.00.
Senior Randall Stallworth (Toms River, N.J./Monsignor Donovan) led Stonehill with 21 points (16 second half) on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, including 3-for-4 from three-point range, while converting 6-of-8 free-throws to go with four assists. Classmate A.J. Rudowitz (Monroe Township, N.J./Monroe Township) added 13 points, eight rebounds and two steals, while junior Daniel Heppert (Richmond, Va./Benedictine) collected 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field, including 2-for-3 from beyond the arc, while converting 3-of-4 free-throws to go with five rebounds and two assists. Junior Mike Kernan (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) grabbed a game-high ten rebounds for the Skyhawks.
Senior A.J. Rudowitz contributed 13 points, eight rebounds and two steals. |
Senior Jason Westrol (Brielle, N.J./Manasquan) led Bentley with a game-high 24 points (15 second half), six rebounds and three assists. Junior Brian Tracey (Bow Mar, Colo./Kimball Union) netted 20 points, aided by 11-of-12 shooting from the free-throw line, to go with five rebounds and three assists, while classmate Mike Quinn (Oakdale, Conn./Montville) added 11 points, five rebounds and two assists.
Stonehill finished shooting 48.1-percent (26-for-54) from the field, including 51.9% (14-27) in the first half, while outscoring the hosts 19-13 from the free-throw line by converting 76% (19-25) of its attempts. The Skyhawks finished with a 38-34 rebounding edge, resulting in a 17-5 advantage in second-chance points. Bentley finished shooting 38.7% (24-62) from the field, including 35.9% (14-39) in the second half, hitting 8-of-29 (27.6%) three-pointers for the night.
Stonehill led by a point (40-39) with 12:45 to play before reeling off a 12-2 run over the next five minutes to push its lead into double-figures (52-41) for the first time after two free-throws by sophomore Ivan Almeida (Praia, Cape Verde) with 7:38 to play. Heppert and Almeida sparked the run with a three-pointer each.
Westrol answered with a three with 7:19 to play, drawing Bentley within eight (52-44), but a Rudowitz layup and two free-throws by Heppert pushed the Stonehill lead to 12 (56-44) with 6:04 remaining. The Falcons closed again, drawing within five (58-53) when Tracey was fouled attempting a three-pointer and then drained all three free-throws with 3:31 left. The Skyhawks responded by canning 9-of-10 free-throws over the next two minutes, getting a three-pointer from Stallworth (who had seven points in all during that stretch), to run their lead back to 12 (68-56) with 1:14 to play.
Stonehill sealed the win with a layup by freshman Sam Markle (Bethany, Conn./Saint Thomas More) that pushed its lead to a game-high 13 (73-60) with 41-seconds to go. Bentley, winners of five-straight NE-10 regular season championships before being unseated by Stonehill this winter, wouldn't go down quietly, raining in a trio of three-pointers in an eight-second span to cut its deficit to six (75-69) with 23-seconds to go. However, it would prove to be too little too late as the Skyhawks got a Stallworth free-throw and Westrol missed a fourth three-point attempt to finally clinch things.
There was little to separate the teams in a first half that featured three ties and three lead changes and neither team leading by more than five points until Stonehill scored four-straight to open a seven-point lead (31-24) after an Almeida jumper with 1:22 left before halftime. Bentley led by three (8-5) very early after a pair of free-throws by Tracey 3:04 into the game.
Bentley (22-5, 17-5 NE-10) is the No. 2-seed for the NE-10 Tournament and will also host a quarterfinal round game on Monday at 7 p.m. The Falcons await the winner of Saturday's first round battle between seventh-seeded University of Massachusetts Lowell and tenth-seeded Assumption College.
