Box Score

MANCHESTER, N.H. – In a battle that pitted two of the Northeast-10 Conference's best teams against each other, the Southern Connecticut State University men's basketball team worked its way past No. 12 Saint Anselm 99-94 on Saturday afternoon to earn a huge conference road victory and hand the Hawks their second loss of the year. The Owls came through with the win thanks to a huge second half by Desmond Williams (Torrington, Conn.), who finished as the game's leading scorer with a career high 31 points, six assists and three steals. Williams broke his previous career high of 30 points which was set one week ago against Stonehill.

With the win, Southern Connecticut improves to 14-3 overall and 9-1 in the NE-10, while Saint Anselm falls to 14-2 and 9-2 in the conference.

Coming out of the break, Saint Anselm took its first lead of the game at 56-55 thanks to two free throws by Mike McCahey at the 15:06 mark. A three pointer on their next possession gave the Hawks their biggest lead of four, 59-55.

Freshman Joey Wallace (Rochester, N.Y.) scored the next four points for Southern to tie the game back up at 59. Wallace finished with 11 points, three boards and two assists.

Down two after two free throws by Saint Anselm's Harrison Taggart, fellow freshman Isaiah McLeod (Cambridge, Mass.) knocked down a three pointer to give Southern a one point lead once more. McLeod had arguably his best game of the season with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting including 4-of-4 from three point range. He played 18 minutes in the second half due to Michael Mallory (Waterbury, Conn.) being in foul trouble.

After a made layup by the Hawks gave them another one point lead, Desmond Williams scored five quick points for the Owls to give them a lead they would hold for the rest of the game. Williams dominated the second half with 25 points on 8-of-15 from the field and 7-of-7 from the line. No other player had more than 16 points in the second frame.

A 6-0 run capped by two Williams free throws gave Southern a 73-67 lead with 8:52 remaining. Mallory picked up his fourth foul at 7:57 which sent the Hawks to the line and allowed them to close the gap to one point, but Williams came right back with a jump shot to maintain control of the game.

The Owls extended their lead to six on a McLeod three pointer from Williams at 4:53 to make it 84-78. Saint Anselm would keep it close in the waning minutes, scoring a quick layup after a Williams three-pointer to make it 88-84, Southern. On the next Owls possession, Williams continued his strong second half, forcing his way into the paint and drawing a foul on a made layup attempt. He converted the and-1 to make it 91-84 with two minutes left.

Saint Anselm came right back with a Taggart layup and a timeout. Up five points coming out of the timeout, McLeod was fouled and missed the front end of a 1-and-1 but the Hawks turned the ball over when they got possession. Saint Anselm had 15 turnovers in the game and the Owls scored 24 points off of them. Southern Connecticut turned it over just four times, tying a season low.

After two more Owl free throws to make it 93-86 with 1:25 remaining, Saint Anselm's Tim Guers made a three-pointer to cut the lead to four. The Hawks fouled on the ensuing inbound pass and McLeod made both free throws to push Southern's lead back up to six with one minute left. The Owls went 14-of-18 from the free throw line in the second half after going just 2-of-3 in the first.

On the next Hawk possession, Wallace fouled Victor Joshua. Joshua made the first free throw and missed the second, but McCahey grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back up it make it 95-92 with 47 seconds left.

Williams came right back to hit a fall-away baseline jumper to give Southern a five point lead, but Joshua responded six seconds later with a layup on the other end to cut the lead back to three.

McLeod was fouled on the ensuing inbound pass. He made one of two free throws to make it 98-94 with 15 seconds left. The Hawks opted to go for the quick basket instead of taking a timeout. Joshua missed a layup attempt and Mallory would make one of two free throws to ice the game.

Austin Carter (Bloomfield, Conn.) was a monster on the boards for Southern. He grabbed 18 rebounds - the most by an Owl player since Dec. 22, 2013 – including seven offensive boards. Mallory was in foul trouble for most of the game but still managed 19 points (3-of-3 from deep) and four assists in 20 minutes.

The Owls return to action on Wednesday, January 20 when they host Southern New Hampshire at 7:30 p.m. in the second game of a doubleheader.