Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Seniors Terron Jones (Bridgeport, Conn.), Preston Bell (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Justin Gardenhire (Rosedale, N.Y.) were determined to make their final Southern Connecticut State University men's basketball game an exciting one. Despite falling short to Le Moyne by the score of 75-71, the senior trio never gave up and overcame a 15 point deficit to give their team a chance to win. Jones had a career-high 27 points as he continually attacked the basket. Bell added 19 for his third best outing of the season and Gardenhire dished out a career-best 8 assists.

The first half featured two ties and two lead changes but most importantly, the Owls defense contained one of the most dominant players in the Northeast-10, Laurence Ekperigin. With only five points in the first twenty minutes, his team held a 35-31 lead heading into halftime. Jones led the Owls with 10 as he went 6-for-8 from the line.

Le Moyne opened the second half on a tear as they took a 15 point lead with 8:33 remaining. As the game began to look out-of-reach, Southern remained composed and turned a 10 point deficit into two as Bell hit a fade-away jumper at the 1:50 mark. However, foul trouble struck the Owls and a two-point deficit quickly became a six. Chris Johnson of Le Moyne hit the game winning foul shot with five seconds to go to give his team a 75-71 win.

Jones was fearless in the second half as he posted 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting. His 27 points were a game-high. Bell dropped 13 of his 19 in the second half as well. He went 7-for-12 from the floor and had a game-high four steals. Gardenhire dropped seven points to go along with his game-high eight assists. Joining Jones and Bell in double-digits was sophomore Andrew Zito (Windsor, Conn.) as he posted 13 and went 3-for-5 from downtown. Junior center John Mazzarella (Wallingford, Conn.) led the Owls with 10 boards.