Box Score

WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The No. 20 Southern Connecticut State men's basketball team topped cross-town rival New Haven on Saturday with a 74-65 road win. Senior Luke Houston (Pearl River, N.Y.) chipped in a team-high 21 points and five assists, and sophomore Michael Mallory (Waterbury, Conn.) added in 19 points, four rebounds and four assists. Senior Tylon Smith (Manchester, Conn.) added in 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds in the winning effort. Off the bench, sophomore Austin Carter (Bloomfield, Conn.) totaled 11 points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes of action. For the Chargers, the nation's leading rebounder Eric Anderson, amassed a game-high 24 points and 16 rebounds. With the victory, the Owls improve to 10-3 (5-1 NE-10), while the Chargers drop to 7-5 (2-4 NE-10).

The two teams battled back and forth in the opening minutes. Houston scored the Owls' first five points off a three-pointer and a goaltending call, giving the team a 5-4 lead. The Owls then used a 12-5 run, capped by a Deshawn Murphy (Hamden, Conn.) layup at 14:04 to up the advantage to 17-5.

A Houston layup on put-back upped the lead to 23-18, then Murphy banked in a straightaway three to give the Owls a 26-18 lead with 8:46 remaining in the opening half.
Following a SCSU timeout, the Chargers battled back to within one point at 27-26 with five minutes remaining following a Jonny Ocasio free throw. Southern then used a 7-0 run, featuring jumpers from Smith and Mallory, and a Houston three-pointer to go up 34-26, before the Chargers scored the half's final five points, bringing the halftime score to 34-31.

Coming out of the locker room, the Chargers took the lead at 37-36 at the 16:34 mark following a pair of Anderson free throws. But the lead was short lived as Carter ran off five straight points with a jumper and three-pointer to give the Owls the lead back at 41-37. Anderson would re-tie it at 41-aside with two more free throws at 14:29.

After four straight Chargers' points ied it at 47-47, Mallory sank his second three-pointer of the ballgame with 9:57 on the clock to give SCSU the 50-47 lead.

An intentional foul by the Chargers' Levy Gillespie at 8:54 gave the Owls a new offensive chance, as Mallory drained a foul line jumper to give Southern a 52-47 lead. That was followed by a second chance layup by Carter off a Smith steal to bring the lead to 54-47, forcing a UNH timeout with 8:06 left. After another defensive stop, senior Jose Cruz (Shrewsbury, Mass.) extended the run to 9-0 with a dunk at the other end.

The SCSU advantage reached double-digits for the first time all day at 62-50 with 4:22 remaining following back-to-back threes by Mallory and Houston.

After Anderson got New Haven back within five with 2:26 to go following a free throw, the Owls answered when Smith found junior Desmond Williams (Torrington, Conn.) for a layup underneath, and Mallory picked the pocket of Jemal Mosley and turned it into two points with a fast break layup, giving SCSU a 68-59 lead.

The Chargers would get within 71-65, but Houston nailed down the victory with a pair of free throws 32.5 seconds remaining, and Smith added one more, to bring the final to 74-65.  

The Owls return to action on Wednesday evening, January 7 at 7:30 p.m. when they travel to Southern New Hampshire. The Northeast-10 matchup will be televised regionally on NESNplus. Check back to www.southernctowls.com this week for more information.