Box Score NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Southern Connecticut State men's basketball team used a second half surge to power past Merrimack by a score of 92-85 on Monday evening at Moore Field House. With the win, the Owls improve to 20-5 (14-3 NE-10), marking the second consecutive season the team has reached the 20+ win plateau. It is also just the second time in program history that Southern has won 20+ games in back-to-back seasons, with the other instance coming in the NCAA Tournament years of 1981-82 and 1982-83. It is the seventh time in program history that SCSU has won 20 games in a season. The Owls have earned a spot in the postseason (NCAA five times, ECAC once) every time it previously hit that total.
Senior
Luke Houston (Pearl River, N.Y.) topped the 25+ point mark for the sixth time this season with a team-high 28 points and a season-high 11 rebounds on 10-of-17 shooting. Junior
Desmond Williams (Torrington, Conn.) also collected a double-double on the night with 16 points and 11 rebounds of his own. Senior
Tylon Smith (Manchester, Conn.) and sophomore
Michael Mallory (Waterbury, Conn.) each added 18 points in the win and junior
Deshawn Murphy (Hamden, Conn.) also reached double figures in scoring with 10.
Merrimack's Gelvis Solano, the NE-10's leading scorer netted 23 of his game-high 33 points in the first half, shooting 11-of-24 overall and 7-of-12 from beyond the arch.
After Murphy and Smith kicked off the Owls' scoring to go up 6-5, the Warriors (13-10, 8-10 NE-10) took the lead, which they would hold until Mallory tied it with a jumper, giving Southern an 18-15 lead with 11:20 to go until halftime. A pair of Houston free throws made it 20-15 before Merrimack used an 18-4 run to take a 33-24 advantage, a lead they would hold until the latter stages of the second half.
Solano sank a jumper with eight seconds remaining before the half, giving the Warriors a five point lead, but Houston sent the inbounds pass long down court to Smith who banked in a layup as time expired to bring the halftime score to 50-47.
Merrimack kept the pressure on coming out of the locker room, going on a 9-2 run to begin the half, extending their lead to a game-high 10 points with 15:57 remaining.
Trailing by nine with 13:47 to play, Houston and Solano were both assessed technical fouls following a Warriors' turnover. Houston, who played the rest of the game with four fouls, responded by nailing a three-pointer on the ensuing possession, which helped swing momentum in the Owls' favor. Williams sank a three-pointer with at the 11:07 mark to bring the score to within three, and just under three minutes later, a pair of Smith free throws got the Owls within two at 73-71.
The Owls tied the game with 6:53 to go off a fast break layup by Houston, who then sank the ensuing free throw after being fouled to give the team the lead for good at 78-77. Four points from Smith, two from Houston and a three-pointer by Mallory grew the lead to eight with two minutes to go, as the team was able to hit its insurance free throws down the stretch to put away the 92-85 win.
The Owls hit the road and travel to Pace on Wednesday evening, before returning home for Senior Day on Saturday afternoon against Saint Rose.
