Box Score

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - For the third time this season, Saint Michael's knocked off the No. 23 ranked Southern Connecticut State men's basketball team, this time in Sunday's quarterfinal round of the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament by a score of 81-79. Junior Deshawn Murphy (Hamden, Conn.) led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including five three-pointers. Senior Tylon Smith (Manchester, Conn.) had 20 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while senior Luke Houston (Pearl River, N.Y.) added 18 points and eight rebounds. For the Purple Knights, Corey Crawford II was 6-for-6 from three point range and finished with a team-high 22 points, and Mike Holton Jr. netted 21. The Owls record falls to 22-7 overall following the loss, while Saint Michael's will carry its 18-10 mark into a semifinal matchup against Saint Anselm.

Murphy sizzled out of the gate for the Owls, scoring 13 of the team's first 17 points over the first five minutes, nailing his first five field goal attempts. His three-pointer with 15:38 to go in the opening half gave the Owls their largest lead of the game at 15-5.

From there, the Purple Knights jump started their offense, going on a 17-4 run, which ended when Houston sank a three-pointer to tie the game at 22 with 9:44 until halftime. After the teams traded a pair of buckets, Saint Michael's built the lead up to eight points for four separate occasions before halftime. James Cambronne used a long ball to make it 40-32 with just over two minutes to go, and a pair of free throws by Matt Bonds with 23 seconds remaining brought the lead to 46-38 at the half.

The Purple Knights attained their largest lead of the game at nine points in early in the second half, before Southern was able to work itself back to within one possession. A three ball by Smith with 12:48 to go cut the deficit to two at 57-55, before a trio of Mallory free throws one minute later got the team within 59-58.

Saint Michael's built the lead back to four before a fast-break dunk from sophomore Austin Carter (Bloomfield, Conn.) and a three by Houston put the Owls on top 65-64 with 6:55 remaining. The Knights answered with a Bonds layup before Houston answered right back with another triple, giving SCSU a two point advantage, and what proved to be their final lead.

The game would be re-tied four more times over the final five minutes as the teams continued to trade blows. Trailing by two with under 25 seconds remaining and having only three fouls, the Owls were forced to foul four times in a span of three seconds to put Saint Michael's on the line. Holton Jr. hit both free throws to make it 79-75 with 20 seconds to go.

Crawford then stole the errant inbounds pass, was fouled, and hit his two free throws to make it a six point game with 15 seconds left. Smith then scored two fast break points for Southern, before the Owls were able to force a turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass. Houston was fouled and sank two free throws with five seconds left to make it 81-79, forcing SCSU to foul once again on the inbounds. The Knights missed the front end of the one-and-one, which led to Murphy coming up empty on an attempt from half court as time expired.

Southern Connecticut, who has been the East Region's No. 1 team the past two weeks, will now wait for next weekend's NCAA D-II Selection Show to find out their seeding for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Check back to www.southernctowls.com throughout the week for the latest information.