Box Score COLCHESTER, Vt. – The No. 9 ranked Southern Connecticut State University Owls defeated Saint Michael's 101-80 on Thursday night behind a complete team effort – ten players scored for the Owls.
With the win, Southern Connecticut improves to 7-2 overall while Saint Michael's falls to 1-7. This was a non-conference matchup between the Owls and the Purple Knights. Their next matchup will be a conference game.
Joey Wallace (Rochester, N.Y.) led Southern Connecticut with 20 points and five made three pointers. He also added six assists. Wallace started the scoring with a three pointer, and then assisted on a
Stefon Williams (Jamaica, N.Y.) jumper. The Owls would start the game on a 7-0 run and would boost their lead to as much as 15 thanks to a 17-5 run halfway through the first half. Wallace capped off that run with a steal and a dunk to make the score 30-15 at 12:34 in the first half. This was the second game of the season Wallace started. In those games, he has averaged 18 points, 4.5 assists and 6.5 rebounds.
The Owls would continue their strong play for the rest of the first half.
Toby Christensen (Gentofte, Denmark) made all four of his three pointers in the first half. He finished with 16 points, three rebounds and two steals in 22 minutes. The Owls led 41-26 with 6:48 remaining in the half when
Isaiah McLeod (Cambridge, Pa.) and
Michael Mallory (Waterbury, Conn.) hit consecutive three pointers. Saint Michael's Levi Holmes III hit a jumper on the other end but Christensen nailed a three to keep the run going for the Owls. Southern would close out the first frame with two more threes by Mallory and Wallace to take a 26 point lead at the break. Mallory totaled 16 points, eight assists (career high), five rebounds and three steals.
The Owl lead would balloon to as much as 35 in the second half thanks to a 9-2 Southern run and a
Desmond Williams (Torrington, Conn.) fastbreak layup. Williams finished with 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals in 13 minutes. He picked up two early fouls and sat out most of the first half.
Southern maintained a 30 point lead until 2:20 remaining in the game when Winston Jones II hit a layup to cut the lead to 98-69.
Jonathan Paul (Westlake Village, Calif.) scored his first bucket of the season in the closing minutes to give the Owls 101 points – it's the first time Southern broke the century mark since playing AIC on November 24.
The Owls return to action on Saturday when they host Pace at 3:30 p.m.
