Franklin Pierce Edges Southern N.H. at the Buzzer, 62-60
Powell leads Ravens with season-best 19 points, including buzzer beater
RINDGE, N.H. (January 28, 2004) - Sophomore forward Justin Powell (Brookline, Mass./Brookline) scored a 17-foot runner at the buzzer to lift Franklin Pierce to a 62-60 victory over Southern New Hampshire University in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action at the Franklin Pierce Fieldhouse tonight.
Powell led all scorers on the night with a season-best 19 points, as he hit nine-of-12 shots from the field for the contest, to go with a team-best six rebounds (four offensive) and a block.
Senior Derek Rodgerson (Newburgh, Maine/Hampden Academy) finished with 16 points, aided by a 4-7 effort from three-point range, after netting just two points in the opening half on 1-6 shooting from the field. He also added five rebounds and three steals. Freshman Marques Norris (Jamaica Plain, Mass./Benson (Ore.)) added 11 points, four assists and two steals.
Sophomore guard Miguel Gonzalez (Jamaica, N.Y./Holy Cross) led Southern New Hampshire with 13 points and two assists. Senior Mark Yeaton (Concord, N.H./New Hampshire) was the only other double-digit scorer with 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Senior Athanasios Souflias (Larissa, Greece) chipped in nine points, a game-best seven rebounds and three blocks.
Franklin Pierce trailed by three-points (60-57) with 33-seconds to play and no timeouts, but Rodgerson drained a three-pointer with 13-seconds to play to knot the score. Southern New Hampshire chose not to call a timeout and Gonzalez had a driving lay-up blocked by Franklin Pierce freshman Nazim Senaldi (Istanbul, Turkey) with six seconds to play. Norris grabbed the rebound and found Rodgerson, who passed to Powell who took a step inside the arc before shooting the game-winning runner as time expired.
The Ravens won despite getting just five points (all first half) from senior preseason All-American Jimmie Hunt (Utica, N.Y./Mount Ararat (Maine)) in 17 minutes before fouling out with 5:24 left in the game. Franklin Pierce limited SNHU's top scorers, Yeaton and Gonzalez, to a combined 6-25 from the field, including 2-11 from three-point range, for the contest.
The Penmen finished the game shooting 38.5-percent (20-52) for the contest, including 4-15 (26.7%) from long-distance, but were done in by a 16-25 (64%) effort from the free-throw line. The Ravens hit 44.2% (23-52) from the floor, including 6-17 (35.3%) from three-point range, and canned 10-12 (83.3%) of their attempts at the line.
Franklin Pierce held a six-point (54-48) advantage with 4:29 to play in regulation, but a three-pointer from sophomore John Baiano (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) sparked a quick 6-0 run to force the second of four ties in the second half. Junior J.J. Harvey (Albany, N.Y./Siena) knotted the score with a conventional three-point play with 3:59 left.
Rodgerson pumped in a three-ball with 2:59 to play to put the Ravens back ahead. The Penmen answered with a Gonzalez jumper, then Souflias canned a pair of free-throws to put them up a point (58-57) before following up a Franklin Pierce turnover with a lay-in with 33-seconds to play before the Ravens late heroics.
SNHU led by as much as eight points (25-17) with 6:42 to play in the first half, but Franklin Pierce closed the stanza out with a 13-4 run to take a 30-29 advantage into the locker room. The Ravens held a pair of seven-point advantages in the second-half before the Penmen made their late run.
Franklin Pierce (9-10, 6-9 NE-10) is now off for a week before opening a three-game road trip at Stonehill College on Wednesday, February 4, at 7:30 p.m. Southern New Hampshire (13-5, 8-5 NE-10) hosts No. 24 UMass Lowell on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.