NEW HAVEN, Conn.- No. 5 Southern Connecticut men's basketball defeated No. 12 Saint Rose, 85-71, in it Northeast 10 Conference Championship First Round matchup at James Moore Field House. With the win, the Owls improve to 18-11 on the year and will advance to the NE10 Championship Quarterfinals. The Owls will head to West Haven, Conn. to face tournament No. 4 seeded New Haven on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 3 p.m.
Logan Bagshaw (Cumberland, Me.) became the Owls leading scorer with a season-high 18 points after an outstanding first half where he went 5-for-7 from behind the three-point line and picked up four rebounds. Marty Silvera (Worcester, Mass.) notched 14 points and had a team-leading nine assists. Zack Penn (New Hartford, Conn.) tabbed 12 points and 12 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season. Penn has recorded a double-double each of the last three games, and six times in the last seven games. Sean James (West Hartford, Conn.) and Ulyen Coleman (Brockton, Mass.) had 10 points apiece.
The Owls took an early deficit to the Golden Knights at the start of the game. Southern fell 9-3 less than three minutes in, but a quick 30 second timeout was all the Owls needed to turn things around. Within the first five minutes of the game, the Owls were able to tie up the score, 10-10, before taking a booming lead when Logan Bagshaw notched two consecutive three-pointers. Saint Rose responded with a good layup to make the score 16-12, but Bagshaw was feeling the fight tonight and proceeded to notch another three-pointer. The Golden Knights threw up a good layup, but Bagshaw needed not to worry when he launched up another good three-pointer followed by a layup to close his scoring streak for the Owls. Just ten minutes into the game, Bagshaw already had notched 14 points.
Southern boosted up to a 17 point advantage with one minute remaining off a slamming dunk by Cherif Diarra (Queens, N.Y.), 47-30. At the closure of the half, the scoreline read 49-33 with the Owls holding a 16 point advantage over the Golden Knights. Bagshaw notched all of his 18 points in the first half to boost the Owls.
The Owls held their stride in the second half by progressively increasing their lead. Sean James (West Hartford, Conn.) notched eight points in the half to bring his total to 10. Zack Penn notched eight while Kazell Stewart (East Hartford, Conn.) produced six. Stewart also notched a three-pointer to give the Owls their largest lead of 26 points with five minutes remaining in the game, 79-53. The Owls took their foot off the pedal for the remainder of the game to finish with a final score of 85-71.
The Owls return to action on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 3 p.m. to face the No. 4 seeded New Haven in West Haven, Conn.
