Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Desmond Williams (Torrington, Conn.) scored the final 13 points for Southern Connecticut State University on its way to an 89-77 win over AIC on Wednesday night. Williams finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds, his 13th double-double of the year. Before Williams went off in the final 3:51, Austin Carter (Bloomfield, Conn.) led the way for the Owls. He finished with 18 points, two off his career high, and 18 rebounds, which tied his career high.

With the win, the Owls improve to 19-5 and 14-2 in the NE-10, while the Yellow Jackets fall to 10-13 and 6-11.

AIC had cut an Owl lead as big as 12 down to five to make it 76-71 with 3:51 left. Coming out of a timeout, Williams converted an and-1, a running layup in the paint and a jump shot before the Yellow Jackets scored another point. He followed it up with a three-pointer and hit three free throws to close out the game in the final minute.

Southern Connecticut had a six point lead at halftime, but Carter came out of the break hot and scored seven of the Owls' first 11 points to open it up to 65-54 with 14:34 remaining in the game.

Isaiah McLeod (Cambridge, Mass.) and Jack McCarthy (Wallingford, Conn.) had a hand in extending the lead to 74-62. McLeod finished with eight points, one assist, one block and one steal and McCarthy put up six points and seven rebounds.

The first half saw the Owls hold a 26-19 lead at the 10:11 mark thanks to an 11-2 advantage on the offensive boards. Southern Connecticut finished the game with 58 rebounds to AIC's 33 and 26 offensive rebounds to six.

The Yellow Jackets got hot midway through the first half and took a 42-40 lead after going on a 17-9 run. The Owls responded with a jumper by McLeod, a three-pointer by Brett Buser (Glendale, N.Y.), two free throws from Joey Wallace (Rochester, N.Y.) and a layup from Eric Ross (Chicago, Ill.). That was part of a 10-2 run that gave SCSU a 50-44 lead at the half.

Southern Connecticut returns to action on Saturday when it takes on Saint Rose at 4 p.m. in a nationally televised game on the American Sports network.