Silva's 42 points leads Panthers to fourth straight win

Chose surpassed 20 points for the second-straight game, leading the Skyhawks with 27 on 10-of-17 shooting (PHOTO BY Mary Gettens)

EASTON, Mass. (January 11, 2022) – Adelphi University, ranked No. 9 in this week's D2SIDA East Region poll, built a 16-point halftime lead and held on down the stretch to turn back a big comeback effort from Stonehill College, ranked No. 5 in the region, for a 75-70 victory in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action on Paula Sullivan Court at Merkert Gymnasium tonight. 

Leaders

Stonehill
Owen Chose Fifth-year, Guard: 27 points (10-for-17, 4-for-6 threes), 4 rebounds.
Josh Mack Senior, Guard: Career-high 17 points (6-for-6, 1-1 threes, 4-for-4 FTs), 3 rebounds.
Christopher Melis Freshman, Forward: Double-Double of 11 points, season-high 13 rebounds. 

Adelphi
Ronnie Silva Senior, Guard: Career-high 42 points (11-for-19, 8-of-11 threes, 12-for-13 FTs), 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals.
Adonis Williams Postgrad, Guard: 16 points (7-for-10 FGs), 5 rebounds.
Chris Coalmon Postgrad, Guard: 11 points (3-for-4 threes), 3 rebounds. 

How it Happened

• Mack made every shot he took in scoring a career-high for the third straight game (PHOTO BY Mary Gettens)

  Stonehill fought back from a 16-point halftime deficit (36-20) in which Silva netted 20 of his 42 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 6-for-7 from three-point distance, trailing by 14 (53-39) with 7:28 to play, by closing the gap to four (60-56) after a layup from sophomore Emmanuel Bonsu with 1:24 still to play.
• Adelphi finished the first half with a 24-8 run over the final 8:51 to open a game-high 16-point lead at the break with Silva netting 17 of his 20 first half points during that stretch by canning five of his six triples.
• Stonehill scored ten of the first 12 points in the second half to quickly pull back within seven (38-31) just four minutes in after two Chose free-throws.
• Adelphi was able to hold the Skyhawks at arm's length, stretching its lead back to 12 (43-31) with five straight points from Williams.
• Stonehill closed the gap to eight (45-37) after a steal and dunk by senior Myles Hanson midway through the half, but Adelphi followed with an 8-2 spurt to reclaim its 14-point margin (53-39) after a three-pointer by Coalman with 7:28 on the clock.
• Stonehill chipped away from there and closed the gap all the way down to four (60-56) after a steal and layup from Bonsu with 84-seconds still to play.
• Silva answered with a three-point play at the other end, but Chose buried a three to pull back within four (65-61) with 40-ticks remaining.
• Silva sealed the win from there, canning all 11 free-throws in the final 67-seconds, while Stonehill was largely able to answer at the other end to keep it close.
• Chose's final three of the night cut the deficit to three (73-70), but there was just four seconds left and Silva's last two free-throws at the other end finally stemmed the comeback effort.

Noteworthy

• Chose followed up his career-high 29 points at Le Moyne College on Saturday with his second-straight 20-point effort (13^th career) as he scored 19 of his 27 in the second half.
• Chose moved into 30^th place on Stonehill's career scoring list with his 1,110 points in 91 career games, while his 210 career three-pointers ranks sixth all-time.
• Mack recorded a career-high for points for the third straight game, surpassing his previous career-best of 14 points at Le Moyne on Saturday. His three-straight double-figure scoring games five him seven for his career.
• Melis posted his first career double-double with his season-high rebound total, notching nine points and nine rebounds in the second half.
• Stonehill shot 60-percent (18-for-30) in the second half, including 4-for-8 (50%) from three, in netting 50 second-half points, compared to 26.9% (7-for-26) in the first half (3-for-12 threes).
• Adelphi connected on 8-of-15 three-pointers (53.3%) in the opening half, but just 3-for-12 (25%) in the second.

Up Next

Stonehill (8-5, 4-3 NE10) is right back in action at Merkert Gym on Thursday night, when it hosts Southern New Hampshire University, ranked No. 10 in the D2SIDA East Region poll, for an NE10 matchup at 7 p.m. Adelphi (10-4, 5-2 NE10) hosts Saint Anselm College on Saturday at 3:30 p. m.

For the latest on Stonehill Athletics, follow the Skyhawks via social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Fans can also download the Stonehill Skyhawks "Front Row" mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market.