Junior Andre Tongo buried all six three-point attempts as part of a perfect shooting night overall as he broke out with a career-best 20 points at Pace today. (PHOTO BY Bert Lane)

Tongo erupts for career-best 20 points on perfect shooting night

Junior guard Andre Tongo (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxborough) erupted for a career-best 20 points in 18 minutes off the bench for Stonehill as he made all seven shots from the field, including six three-pointers, to go with three rebounds. Sophomore Brian Hamor (Guilderland, N.Y./Bishop Gibbons) netted 16 points for the second-straight game as he made 4-of-7 shots from the field, including 3-for-6 from beyond the arc, converting 5-of-6 free-throw attempts to go with three assists and two rebounds off the bench. The Skyhawks bench dominated Pace by a 47-20 margin on the afternoon, shooting 16-for-22 (72.7%) from the field and 10-of-13 (76.9%) from deep.

Senior Mike Kernan (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) led the Stonehill starters with 13 points, shooting 6-for-11 from the field and converting his lone free-throw attempt, a game-high eight rebounds and two assists. The Skyhawks finished shooting 56.4-percent (31-for-55) from the field on the afternoon, including 10-for-19 (52.6%) from deep, and converted 9-of-11 (81.8%) free-throw attempts. They posted a 40-33 rebounding edge.

Sophomore Brian Hamor posted his second-straight 16 point outing for the Skyhawks. (PHOTO BY Bert Lane)

Junior Adrian Mills (Woodbridge, Va./Paul IV) was the lone Pace player in double-figures with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field while converting 4-of-6 from the free-throw line to go with three steals and two rebounds. Sophomore Keon Williams (Hackensack, N.J./Hackensack) added eight points and five rebounds (all offensive), while junior Delroy Daley (Bronx, N.Y./St. Raymond) contributed six points and six boards.

Pace was held to 30.6-percent (19-for-62) shooting from the field, including 28.6% (10-35) in the second half, and connected on just 2-of-17 (11.8%) tries from three-point range, and converted only 8-of-16 (50%) free-throw attempts.

Stonehill closed out the first half with a 16-5 run after trailing much of the frame to carry an 11-point (32-21) lead into halftime. Hamor buried two three's and Tongo connected on another, while Kernan converted a conventional three-point play during that stretch as well. The Skyhawks kept it rolling to open the second half, scoring the first eight points of the frame, capped by a pair of dunks from junior Ivan Almeida (Praia, Cape Verde) to open a 19 point lead (40-21) 3:12 in.

Pace cut the deficit to 15 (40-25) after a Daley layup with 15 minutes to play, but Stonehill reeled off a 14-5 run to gain a 24-point advantage (54-30) after a Tongo layup at the midway point of the half. The Skyhawks pushed the lead to 34 (68-34) with 6:43 to play after back-to-back Tongo three's and the summit reached 38 (81-43) before settling in at the final 33-point winning margin.

Stonehill (11-3, 6-3 NE-10) is back in action on Tuesday when it hosts Assumption College for an NE-10 matchup at 7:30 p.m. Pace (7-7, 3-6 NE-10) visits Saint Anselm College on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.