Box Score

CALDWELL, N.J. - The No. 20 nationally ranked Southern Connecticut State University Owls defeated Caldwell 100-71 on Thursday night. Freshman Isaiah McLeod (Cambridge, Mass.) had a career night for the Owls with 24 points in 22 minutes on 8-of-10 shooting and 5-of-7 from three-point range. He also added six rebounds, five assists and two steals. 

With the win, the Owls improve to 9-2 overall, while the Cougars fall to 4-7. Southern Connecticut also improves to 4-0 when scoring 100 points or more.

The win comes as a complete team effort for the Owls, as 11 players scored (four in double figures) and the team outrebounded Caldwell 49-36. Austin Carter (Bloomfield, Conn.) led the team with eight rebounds, and four players were tied with six boards, each. 

Southern Connecticut started the game off quickly with three buckets in the paint by Michael Mallory (Waterbury, Conn.), Stefon Williams (Jamaica, N.Y.) and Carter, followed by a Mallory three to make it 9-2, Owls. After Dawan Lighty of Caldwell hit a jumper to cut it to 9-4, Southern hit three straight three pointers to extend its early lead to 18-4. The Owls made 18 three-pointers on the day and shot 47-percent from deep, both season highs.

Southern Connecticut closed the first half on a 12-4 run thanks to three-pointers from freshmen Toby Christensen (Gentofte, Denmark), Joey Wallace (Rochester, N.Y.) and McLeod to take a 44-22 lead into the break.

Caldwell opened the second half going 4-of-4 from the field to cut the lead to 17, but could not get any closer to the Owls as Mallory knocked down shots on three out of the next four Southern possessions. Mallory, the second leading scorer in the NE-10 at 22.2 points per game, finished the day with 19 points, six rebounds and a team high six assists.

A Desmond Williams (Torrington, Conn.) jumper pushed the lead back up to 25. He finished with 10 points six rebounds and four assists. This is the fourth game Williams has not posted a double-double, but in this game, the numbers that would have gone to him were spread out amongst the entire team. 

Three-pointers by Christensen and McLeod boosted the lead to 27 and a fastbreak layup by Wallace capped off the win for Southern. Wallace filled up the stat sheet for the Owls with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Southern Connecticut's next game is Sunday, December 20 when it hosts the University of the Sciences at Moore Field House at 3:30 p.m.