Box Score Final Stats

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The No. 2/4 Southern Connecticut State University men's basketball team saw the best season in program history end in the Elite Eight, falling 98-88 to No. 20 Central Missouri.

Michael Mallory (Waterbury, Conn.), one of four players to score in double figures, led the Owls with 22 points. The freshman, who scored 15 points in the second half, went 7-of-8 at the line.



Greg Langston, closed his career at Southern with 19 points. The senior finished with 1,890 career points, passing Jerrit Lewis, 1994-98, 1,888 career points, for second most in program history.  He went 10-for-10 from the line on the afternoon.



Tylon Smith (Manchester, Conn.) finished with 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds.



The East Regional Champions started slow, trailing 9-2 less than three minutes in.

Deshawn Murphy (Hamden, Conn.) came off the bench like a ball of fire shortly thereafter. The sophomore had 13 of the Owls' first 23 points. The program-record holder for three-pointers in a season (78) had 16 points, all of them coming in the opening half.



Toward the end of the first period, the Mules went on a 15-0 run to turn a 34-28 Owl lead into a 41-34 Central Missouri advantage.

After the opening 20 minutes, the Owls were down six, 45-39.

The Owls' cut their deficit to three, 74-71, with 7:46 remaining. From there, the Northeast-10 Conference Champions hit a cold stretch. Southern Connecticut went over four minutes without a basket as the Mules went on a 12-7 run to sew it up.

Southern Connecticut, which saw its school-record 19-game winning streak end in Evansville, closed the year at 30-3. The team, which returns 12 players next season, set a program record with 30 wins.