Franklin Pierce Tops Southern New Hampshire, 85-76
Rodgerson, Hunt and Waterman lead five Ravens in double-figures
MANCHESTER, N.H. (January 29, 2003) - Franklin Pierce scored a huge win to begin its stretch run with an 85-76 victory over Southern New Hampshire University in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action at the SNHU Fieldhouse tonight.
Franklin Pierce, which entered the game in a three-way tie for tenth place in the Conference standings, used a balanced offensive attack in erasing a pair of six point leads in the opening ten minutes of the second half and defeat second-place Southern New Hampshire.
Juniors Derek Rodgerson (Newburgh, Maine/Hampden Academy) and Jimmie Hunt (Utica, N.Y./Mount Ararat (Maine)) each netted 18 points to lead the balanced Ravens attack. Hunt hit six-of-12 from the field, including 2-5 from three-point range, and canned all four free-throw attempts, while grabbing five rebounds. Rodgerson got 15 of his 18 points over the final 20 minutes to spark the victory.
Senior Tom Waterman (Bangor, Maine/Bangor) registered a career-high 17 points as he hit 5-6 from the field (including a three-pointer) while draining 6-8 at the line to go with four steals and three assists. Freshman Justin Powell (Brookline, Mass./Brookline) tallied 12 points (11 first half) and nine rebounds (five offensive), while senior Zvonko Ilic (Nis, Yugoslavia) chipped in ten points off the bench.
Junior Mark Yeaton led the Penmen with a game-high 21 points (18 first half), on 9-14 shooting from the field, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Senior Sotirios Karapostolou totaled 17 points and five rebounds, while classmate Brian Larrabee added 16 points and six boards. Junior Athanasios Souflias (Larissa, Greece) chipped in ten points, four rebounds and three blocks.
SNHU hit 50-percent (28-56) of its shots from the field for the night, compared to 43.8% (28-64) for Franklin Pierce, but the Ravens out-scored the Penmen 20-12 at the line and out-rebounded the opposition by a 40-28 margin. The Ravens limited SNHU to just four offensive rebounds, while snaring 14 on their offensive end of the court.
Franklin Pierce trailed by ten points on two different occasions late in the first half, but an 8-0 run over the final 1:27 of the stanza, sparked by a conventional three-point play from Powell and capped by a three-point bomb from Rodgerson cut its deficit to two points (40-38) entering the lockerroom.
Southern New Hampshire regrouped during the break and regained a six-point advantage (50-44) just four-minutes into the second half. After the Ravens worked back to another tie (51-51) with 14:12 to play, SNHU answered to regain the six-point lead with 11:13 on the clock.
Trailing 61-55 with 10:42 left in regulation, Franklin Pierce rallied with a 9-2 run to take its first lead of the half (64-63) with 5:54 to play. Rodgerson was the catalyst with five-straight points, including a three-ball.
After the hosts regained the lead (67-66) with 4:44 left, Franklin Pierce posted a 12-0 run over the next three minutes and opened an 11-point cushion (78-67) which marked the largest lead by either team to that point. Rodgerson had yet another three-ball in the rally, while Hunt's trifecta sealed it at the 1:43-mark.
SNHU closed to within seven points after the Ravens had built a 12-point lead, but the visitors sealed the win at the line in the final minute.
Franklin Pierce (9-11, 7-8 NE-10) rounds out a four-game road trip on Saturday when it faces Stonehill College at 3:30 p.m. Southern New Hampshire (14-4, 11-3 NE-10) visits No. 3 UMass Lowell on Saturday at 4 p.m.