Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Keyed by a strong all-around effort that featured three Owls in double figures, the Southern Connecticut State University men's basketball team jumped right back to its winning ways with a 78-57 triumph over St. Thomas Aquinas on Thursday evening. It was the first game for the Owls following an 18-day break between games for final exams and the holidays.

Trevon Hamlet (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led SCSU with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting. Chazz McCarter (New Haven, Conn.) just missed out on a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Kieran Ramsey (North Hollywood, Calif.) tallied a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

With the win, the Owls improved to 8-2 on the season. St. Thomas Aquinas is now 2-7.

SCSU scored the first 11 points of the game and never looked back. The Owls led 20-9 at the midway point of the half and extended their lead to as many as 19 points – at 35-16 – in the frame. The hosts held a 37-23 advantage at halftime. Ramsey tallied 12 points and eight rebounds in the opening half.

The Owls scored the first four points of the second half and quickly built their lead to 20 points less than three minutes into the frame. Leading 54-34, SCSU then used a 17-6 run to build its largest lead of the contest, 31 points, at 73-42.

McCarter tallied 15 of his 19 points in the second half on 5-of-5 shooting. Hamlet scored 13 of his 22 in the second half on a 6-of-6 effort from the floor.

Senior Andrew Zito (Windsor, Conn.) scored eight points and added four boards in the win.

Southern Connecticut shot 51.6 percent (33-for-64) for the game and held STAC to just 36.1 percent shooting (22-for-61). The hosts also dominated the boards by a 51-24 margin.

The Owls are back in action on Sunday when they resume Northeast-10 Conference play with a 3:30 p.m. home game against New Haven