Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The No. 10 ranked Southern Connecticut State men's basketball team came up on the short end of an 88-84 decision in a non-conference matchup against Saint Michael's on Thursday night. Senior Tylon Smith (Manchester, Conn.) scored a season-high 28 points to lead all scorers. Smith also added four assists, which puts him in a three-way tie for the most career assists in program history (410). Senior Luke Houston (Pearl River, N.Y.) chipped in 19 points and six assists, while sophomore Michael Mallory added 16 points. Junior Stefon Williams (Jamaica, N.Y.) led the team with seven rebounds, while Smith and Houston each collected three steals. The Owls drop to 8-2 overall, while the Purple Knights move up to 5-2.

The Purple Knights held a 47-44 lead at the half after a back-and-forth opening 20 minutes. Five points by Houston and two from Smith gave the Owls a 7-1 advantage early on. At the 8:21 mark, Saint Michael's senior James Cambronne reach the 1,000 point mark in his career with a three-pointer that gave the Purple Knights a 25-24 lead.

The Owls would regain the lead just under four minutes later following a Houston layup, and got the lead up to as much as three points over the final three minutes of the opening half following a three-pointer by Mallory and a layup from Smith.

The Purple Knights grabbed the lead for good at 45-44 with 50 seconds remaining in the first half following a pair of free throws from Mike Holton Jr.

Each team shot exactly 50 percent from the field in the opening half, with the Knights shooting 44.4 percent from three-point range.

In the second half, the Saint Michael's lead ballooned to as high as 10 points by the 7:37 mark. But the Owls fought back and got within two points at 78-76 following a layup by Williams with 3:35 to go. After seeing their deficit increase to six, back to back layups from Williams and Smith (following a turnover) got the Owls back within 84-82 with 26 seconds left. After Southern was forced to foul, Corey Crawford II sank four free throws for Saint Michael's over the final 22 seconds, sandwiched around a Smith layup to bring the final to 88-84.

Southern's next game will be at home on Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 7:30 p.m. against Bridgeport in a non-conference matchup.