Saint Rose Rallies Past Franklin Pierce, 66-61
Golden Knights erase 17-point first half deficit taking first lead with 2:00 to play
RINDGE, N.H. (January 27, 2007) - The College of Saint Rose, ranked fourth in the Northeast Region and among teams receiving votes in this week's NABC Division II poll, trailed all but the final two-minutes of regulation to snatch a 66-61 victory at Franklin Pierce in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action at the Fieldhouse this afternoon.
Saint Rose rebounded from a 37-percent (10-of-27) shooting effort in the first half to hit 46.2% (12-26) in the second, and converted all 15 free-throw attempts for the afternoon. Franklin Pierce shot 45.2-percent (14-of-31) in the first half and 44% (11-25) in the second, but hit just 1-of-7 (14.3%) three-pointers over the final 20-minutes after connecting on 4-13 (30.8) in the first. The Ravens also converted just 6-10 (60%) of their free-throws.
Senior Clayton Longmire (Rochester, N.Y./Gates-Chili) led a balanced Saint Rose effort with 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Freshman Jermaine Clark (Perth Amboy, N.J./Perth Amboy) added 13 points and three rebounds off the bench, while junior Steve Dagostino (Schenectady, N.Y./Guilderland) totaled 12 points, eight assists and three steals. Senior Mike DePaoli (North Salem, N.Y./North Salem) chipped in 11 points and three rebounds.
Sophomore Timothy Munch (Blauvelt, N.Y./Storm King Prep) scored 17 of his game-high 22 points for Franklin Pierce in the first half as he finished shooting 8-of-15 from the field, including 4-9 from three-point range, to go with three rebounds and two assists.
Senior Darryl Minnifield (Boston, Mass./Brookline) totaled 13 points (nine second half), six rebounds (three offensive) and four assists. Early in the first half, Minnifield became just the 17th player in program history to grab 500 career rebounds. He is the first guard and first sub-six-foot player in program history to reach the plateau. His six boards this afternoon give him 503 for his career. Senior Nazim Senaldi (Istanbul, Turkey) chipped in nine points and six rebounds.
Franklin Pierce used an 18-2 run midway through the first half to open a 17-point lead (26-9) after a pair of Munch free-throws with 7:12 remaining. Munch drained two three-pointers and Senaldi converted a three-point play to spark the run. Saint Rose closed out the first half with a 7-2 run, capped by a Dagostino three-pointer with 32-seconds to play in the stanza, to cut its deficit to nine (35-26) at the break.
Franklin Pierce regained a 14-point bulge (42-28) after a Senaldi layup five minutes into the second half, but Saint Rose used a 17-7 run over the next six minutes to close within four (49-45) after DePaoli drained three free-throws with 9:51 still to play.
Sophomore Rimas Varanauskas (Kaunas, Lithuania) scored a drive with 6:42 to play that put the Ravens up six (55-49), but Saint Rose notched an 8-2 run to force the games first tie (57-57) after a Clark three with 4:51 to play. Minnifield scored a layup to put the Ravens back up a pair, but the Golden Knights scored the next seven points, capped by a Clark three, for a five-point lead (64-59) with 56-seconds to go.
Minnifield scored another layup with 44-seconds left and was fouled, but missed the free-throw which would have pulled Franklin Pierce within two, and Saint Rose answered with two DePaoli free-throws with eight seconds to go to ice the win.
Franklin Pierce (10-10, 8-8 NE-10) concludes its three-game home stand on Wednesday when it hosts Pace University at 7:30 p.m. Saint Rose (16-5, 12-4 NE-10) hosts Southern Connecticut State University on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.