Stonehill Stuns Franklin Pierce, 53-42
Chieftains limit Ravens to 23.2-percent shooting effort, 10.3% in opening half
EASTON, Mass. (February 1, 2003) - Stonehill College locked down Franklin Pierce, 53-42, in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action at Merkert Gymnasium this afternoon.
Franklin Pierce connected on just 23.2-percent (13-56) of its shots from the field for the afternoon, including an abysmal 10.3% (3-29) in the first half as Stonehill staked out a 25-14 lead at the break. The Ravens canned just 1-11 three-point attempts over the first 20-minutes, while the Chieftains shot 47.8% (11-23) from the field over the same period, en route to a 44.9% (22-49) effort from the game.
Senior Kyle Quimby led a balanced Stonehill attack with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore Dezmond Morgan totaled ten points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, while junior Edmond Turkson added nine points, hitting all three of his attempts from the field, and four assists. Freshman Marquis Taylor chipped in seven points, ten rebounds and four steals.
Junior Derek Rodgerson (Newburgh, Maine/Hampden Academy) was the lone Franklin Pierce player in double-digits with 13 points (including ten of the Ravens 14 first-half points) to go with seven rebounds (four offensive). He was aided by a 6-9 effort at the line as he hit just 3-17 shots from the field, including 1-9 from three-point range. Classmate Jimmie Hunt (Utica, N.Y./Mount Ararat (Maine)) was limited to nine points on 3-14 shooting from the field, including 0-4 from long-distance.
The Ravens led by one (8-7) seven and a half minutes into the contest, before the Chieftains took the lead for good and extended the advantage to 12 points (20-8) with a 13-0 run. Taylor led the charge with five points in that span, including a three-pointer.
The Stonehill lead was 18 points (35-17) 5:23 into the second half, before Franklin Pierce responded with an 8-0 run to trim its deficit to ten points (35-25) with 11:52 to play. Freshman Justen Nagle (Rindge, N.H./Conant) sparked the rally with all four of his points for the afternoon during the rally.
Stonehill worked its lead back to 16 points (43-27) after a Turkson lay-in and Franklin Pierce was merely able to work the lead down to nine points (on four different occasions) down the stretch.
Franklin Pierce (9-12, 7-9 NE-10) and Stonehill (5-14, 2-13 NE-10) wrap up their home-and-home series on Wednesday night in Rindge at 7:30 p.m.