Northeast No. 2 Skyhawks seek first NE10 Championship appearance since 2012
NE10 Men's Basketball Tournament Central
NE10 Men's Basketball Tournament History
Moreton, the NE10 Player of the Year and a three-time All-NE10 selection, leads the Skyhawks into their first NE10 semifinal in four years (PHOTO BY Jan Volk/SportsPix) |
EASTON, Mass. (March 3, 2020) – Northeast Division No. 2 seed Stonehill College, ranked No. 6 in the most recent NCAA Division II East Regional rankings, takes aim at its first trip to the Northeast-10 Conference Championship in eight years when it hosts Southwest No. 5 University of New Haven in semifinal round action of the 2020 Northeast-10 Conference Tournament at Merkert Gymnasium on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Admission for Wednesday night's game is $8.00 for adults, $5.00 for children ages 12-18 and senior citizens (65+), and $1.00 for students from NE10 institutions with their college ID, with children under 12 admitted free. Stonehill students will also be admitted free courtesy of the Stonehill Spirit Committee with their HillCard. SkyhawksVision coverage on NE10 NOW with Charlie Bergeron and Brian Buckley is available via portal.stretchinternet.com/stonehill/ with links for the game and live stats at stonehillskyhawks.com. In addition to watching online, NE10 NOW viewers will also be able to watch the action live on their televisions through Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku.
Stonehill (18-10, 13-6 NE10), making its 33rd NE10 Tournament appearance, has reached the semifinal round for the 12th time and seeks its seventh trip to the Championship. The Skyhawks last reached the title game in 2012, when it captured their fourth title with a 73-61 triumph over the University of Massachusetts Lowell at Merkert Gym. Stonehill, who won the first two tournament championships in NE10 history in 1981 and 1982, also won the 1989 title in addition to its 2012 crown. The Skyhawks are hosting an NE10 semifinal for the first time since 2006, when they defeated Bryant University, 67-56, in head coach Chris Kraus', '06 senior season.
Stonehill reached the semifinal with an 86-71 victory over Southwest No. 3 Southern Connecticut State University at Merkert Gym on Sunday. Junior Owen Chose led six Skyhawks in double-figures with a season-high matching 24 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including 4-for-5 from three-point distance, three rebounds and two assists. Senior Will Moreton within five with nine minutes to play. The Skyhawks sealed their fourth straight win with a 10-2 run over the next five minutes.
New Haven (14-14, 10-9 NE10) is in the NE10 semifinals for the second straight year after registering a pair of road upsets over the first two round of the tournament. The Chargers started with an 88-82 double-overtime triumph over Northeast No. 4 Bentley University in Waltham in the first round on Friday. Senior Elijah Bailey played all 50 minutes and scored a team-high 24 points, while freshman Davontrey Thomas recorded a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds. New Haven followed that up by hanging on down the stretch for a 75-73 quarterfinal round win at Southwest top-seed Le Moyne College on Sunday in Syracuse, New York, after leading by 16 (40-24) late in the first half. Senior Kessly Felizor paced the Chargers with a double-double of 15 points, 12 rebounds and two assists.
Chose matched his season-high with 24 points in Sunday's NE10 Quarterfinal win over Southern Connecticut State (PHOTO BY Jan Volk/SportsPix) |
New Haven is making its seventh NE10 Tournament appearance since joining the Conference prior to the 2008-09 season. The Chargers have reached the semifinals for the second-straight year and third time overall and look to reach the NE10 Championship for the third time. New Haven is taking aim at its first NE10 Championship after dropping a 51-46 decision to Merrimack College last season, to go with a 73-71 setback to Southern Connecticut State in 2014.
Wednesday marks the 32nd meeting all-time between these two programs, the first in the NE10 Tournament. Stonehill holds a 20-11 advantage in the all-time series, but New Haven has won the last two encounters, including an 85-83 overtime victory in the regular season meeting between the two at Merkert Gym on January 18. The Chargers led by 21 at the half (45-24), but the Skyhawks rallied to force overtime. Bailey scored eight of New Haven's nine points in the extra period and finished with 29 points on 11-of-20 shooting, with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Moreton had a double-double of 24 points, including 15 in the second half, ten rebounds, two steals, an assists and blocked shot.
The winner of tomorrow night's game advances to the NE10 Championship on Saturday at 1 p.m., to face the winner of the second semifinal between Northeast No. 3 Franklin Pierce University (16-11, 10-9 NE10) and Northeast top-seed Saint Anselm College (19-8, 14-5 NE10). The winner of Saturday's championship will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Twitty earned third team All-NE10 honors this season and ranks 15th all-time on Stonehill's career scoring list (PHOTO BY Mike Tureski/SportsPix) |
Stonehill boasts the second-longest win streak in the NE10 with four straight wins and eight victories in its last ten after Sunday's quarterfinal win over Southern Connecticut State. The Skyhawks rank third in the NE10 for scoring defense, allowing 71.0 points per game, while ranking tenth for field goal percentage defense (.448) and seventh for three-point percentage defense (.352). Stonehill is the top three-point shooting team in the NE10, connecting at 42-percent, that also ranks fourth nationally in Division II, ranking fifth in field goal percentage (.461), fourth in free-throw percentage (.769) and 11th in scoring offense (74.8 ppg). The team is also fourth in the Conference for rebound margin (+2.6 per game).
Moreton, the NE10 Player of the Year and a three-time All-NE10 selection with his first team honor announced today, leads two All-Conference selections for Stonehill, along with senior Brandon Twitty who earned third team honors. The duo gives Stonehill two 1,000-point scorers, with Moreton within five points of moving into fourth on the program's career scoring list with 1,817 points and Twitty ranking 25th all-time with 1,230 points.
Moreton, named to the D2EastHoops.org East Region Team of the Decade, leads the team in scoring, rebounding and assists for the second-straight year. He has started all 113 games of his collegiate career and is averaging 18.7 points (7th NE10) on 44.2-percent shooting, including 43.4% (75-for-173) from three-point distance (2nd), and converting 75% (102-136) of his free-throws to go with 8.9 rebounds (5th), 2.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.6 blocked shots per game. Moreton leads the NE10 and ranks fourth nationally with his 8.0 defensive rebounds, while ranking second in the Conference with 13 double-doubles (17th nationally) and sixth with 2.7 three-point field goals per game (7th).
Twitty adds 13.7 points per game on 41.5-percent shooting, including 40.2% (51-for-127) from three, converting 84.2% (64-76) of his free-throws with 1.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals (10th) in 33.6 minutes per game. Chose rounds out Stonehill's double-figure scorers with 14.0 points on 47.4-percent shooting, including 45.1% (65-for-144) from three (4th), converting 89.9% (71-79) of his free-throws (2nd), with 2.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
Sophomore Andrew Sims and junior Monty Urmilevicius, a transfer from Bryant University, add support for the Skyhawks. Sims is averaging 8.3 points on 46.8% shooting, with 5.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists, while Urmilevicius chips in 8.2 points on 52.8% shooting (10th NE10), 4.7 boards and 1.7 assists per contest.
New Haven has won three of its last four, but its two NE10 Tournament wins have come on the heels of a stretch where the Chargers dropped six of nine after they had won a season-high five straight, including its win at Stonehill in January. New Haven ranks second in the NE10 for scoring defense, limiting opponents to 70.8 points per game, ranking tenth in three-point percentage defense (.374) and 12th in field goal percentage defense (.454). The Chargers lead the NE10, committing a Conference low 11.4 turnovers per game (26th nationally) and are second for personal fouls per game (14.0), ranking 12th in Division II. UNH ranks third in the NE10 for free-throw percentage (.774), 14th in scoring offense (71.4 ppg), sixth in field goal percentage (.458) and tenth in three-point percentage (.355).
Bailey, a second team All-NE10 pick, ranks fourth in the NE10 with his team-best 19.7 points on 44.2-percent shooting, including 36% (68-for-189) from three-point distance, converting 83.2% (84-for-101) from the free-throw line (9th), with 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in a Conference-high 36.5 minutes per game. Felizor adds 13.8 points and 8.9 rebounds (5th), with 1.5 assists, a steal and 0.8 blocks, while shooting 53.9-percent from the floor (9th) and 75.2% (85-113) free-throws. Junior Derrick Rowland rounds out the Chargers double-figure scorers with 13.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists (7th) and 1.1 steals.
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2020 Northeast-10 Conference
Men's Basketball Championships
Friday, February 28
First Round
Game 1: SW#5 New Haven 88, NE#4 Bentley 82 (2OT)
Game 2: SW#4 Pace 90, NE#5 Southern New Hampshire 75
Sunday, March 1
Quarterfinals
Game 3: SW#5 New Haven 75, SW#1 Le Moyne 73
Game 4: NE#1 Saint Anselm 82, SW#4 Pace 77
Game 5: NE#3 Franklin Pierce 76, SW#2 Adelphi 74
Game 6: NE#2 Stonehill 86, SW#3 Southern Conn. State 71
Wednesday, March 4
Semifinals (hosted by higher seeds)
Game 7: SW#5 New Haven (14-14, 10-9 NE10) at NE#2 Stonehill (18-10, 13-6 NE10), 7 p.m.
Game 8: NE#3 Franklin Pierce (16-11, 10-9 NE10) at NE#1 Saint Anselm (19-8, 14-5 NE10), 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 7
Championship (at highest remaining seed*)
Game 9: Game 8 winner vs. Game 7 winner, 1 p.m.
* - if same seed, site determined by overall NE10 record and then winner of regular-season matchup
