SPRINGFIELD, Mass.- Southern Connecticut men's basketball defeated American International, 86-76, in a Northeast 10 Conference game in Springfield, Mass. The win boosts the Owls up to 17-10 overall and 11-8 in the NE10 Conference, while the Yellow Jackets drop to 5-22 overall and 3-16 in NE10 play.
Ulyen Coleman (Brockton, Mass.) led the Owls in points with 22 and also notched eight rebounds. 20 of Coleman's points were scored in the second half alone. Sean James (West Hartford, Conn.) recorded 19 points and went 4-for-9 from behind the three-point line. Cherif Diarra (Queens, N.Y.) kept the Owls in the game during big moments with a career-high in points at 18 and notched nine rebounds. Zack Penn (New Hartford, Conn.) recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Penn has recorded three double-doubles in the last four games.
Off the tip, the Owls encountered a five point deficit within the first minute of play. Cherif Diarra notched the Owls' first points of the game off a layup. Diarra then rose to tie the game at 9-9 just after the first five minutes with another layup. The Owls took a two point advantage when Zack Penn made a layup, but AIC responded to tie the score at 11-11. Kazell Stewart (East Hartford, Conn.) notched a basket set up the Owls for a lead that lasted just over six minutes.
Southern's largest lead reached only four points above AIC until seven minutes remained in the half and AIC tied up the score once again, 22-22. The Owls proceeded to break away from AIC to finish the half with a nine-point lead with Diarra leading the team with 13 points, Sean James with nine, and Zack Penn with six. At the buzzer, the score read 40-31.
The Owls' lead jumped to 14 points just two minutes into the second half, 47-33. AIC responded by going on a run to score eight points to lessen the Owls' advantage to just six. Zack Penn allowed the Owls to take a breath when he converted a layup to make the score 49-41, but AIC was not backing down. The Yellow Jackets responded by scoring another eight-straight points to tie up the score to 49-49. Back and forth action occurred for the next three minutes, culminating in a lead for Southern off a made free throw by Diarra.
The Owls plodded forward to a 10 point lead with seven and a half minutes left in the game with AIC attempting to lessen the gap to no avail, 69-59. Each time AIC notched a basket, the Owls would respond to keep their lead. AIC's efforts looked promising as they came as close as three points behind from Southern with under three minutes left. The Owls did not falter under the pressure and proceeded to score nine-consecutive points by converting all free throw attempts and one three-pointer by Diarra, 86-74. It was too late for AIC to come back with 30 seconds remaining after their last basket of the game to finish with a score of 86-76. Ulyen Coleman notched 20 points in the second half alone to boost the Owls to victory, while Sean James notched 10.
The Owls are back in action when it hosts to Assumption University in an NE10 Conference matchup on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in New Haven, Conn. at James Moore Fieldhouse.
