COLCHESTER, Vt. - The 21st-ranked Saint Michael's College men's basketball team earned a 91-80 victory over regionally-ranked Southern Connecticut State University on Saturday during Senior Day in the Ross Sports Center. The Purple Knights are two games up for the Northeast-10 Conference lead with three games to play.
 
The Purple and Gold was ranked 21st in this week's D2CSC national poll while earning votes toward the National Association of Basketball Coaches' (NABC) national rankings. Saint Michael's is second in the latest D2CSC East Region poll, while Southern Connecticut State sits fifth.
 
Saint Michael's honored its three seniors before the game: Nahshon Battle (Scotch Plains, N.J./Woodstock Academy), Chuma Oyigbo (Stoughton, Mass./Redemption Christian [N.Y.] Academy) and Romar Reid (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Woodstock Academy/Manhattan).
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (19-6, 15-4 NE10), Southern Connecticut State (17-8, 11-8 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Romar Reid (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Woodstock Academy/Manhattan), 24 points, 4 assists, 3 steals, 9-for-18 field goals, 4-for-9 three-pointers
• Sophomore Darrel Yepdo (Dracut, Mass./Brooks School), 15 points, 7 assists, 0 turnovers, 5-for-10 field goals, 2-for-4 three-pointers
• Sophomore Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), 13 points, 5 rebounds, 6-for-9 field goals
• Sophomore Alan Brzezinski (Örebro, Sweden/Western Reserve Academy), 12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 3-for-7 three-pointers
• First-year TJ Henaghen (Hampden, Maine/Williston Northampton School), 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 4-for-7 field goals, 3-for-4 three-pointers
• Junior CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 9 points, 4 rebounds, 4-for-4 free throws
• Junior Jacob Duniver (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy), 7 rebounds, 2 steals

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Josh McGettigan, 28 points, 13 rebounds, 10-for-13 field goals, 4-for-7 three-pointers
• Sophomore Kazell Stewart, 20 points, 5 rebounds
• Junior Marty Silvera, 10 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, 5 offensive rebounds, 3 steals
• Sophomore Cherif Diarra, 8 rebounds

GAME FACTS

• Saint Michael's held a key advantage from three-point range, shooting 14-for-31 (45.2%) to the Owls' 6-for-24 (25.0%) effort. The hosts outshot the visitors overall, 47.8%-42.7%.
• The Purple Knights improved to 7-3 against regionally-ranked teams.
• Saint Michael's defeated Southern Connecticut State at home for the first time Jan. 17, 2015, and swept a regular-season series from the Owls for the first time since that 2014-15 season.
• The Purple Knights, who have already clinched a first-round bye into the quarterfinal round of the NE10 Championship, need one more win to claim at least a share of the third regular-season conference title in program history, and first since 2000-01.

THE ACTION

• Neither team led by more than four points in the opening 11-plus minutes of the contest, which featured eight lead changes and one tie.
• Yepdo's three free throws at 8:51 of the first half were followed by Crews' jumper, which pushed the lead to 23-16, and, after the Owls twice cut the deficit to one, Henaghen and Brzezinski buried back-to-back three-pointers to make it 35-27 with 1:58 left.
• The hosts carried a six-point lead into halftime before the advantage bulged to 13 within the first four minutes of the second stanza, when Henaghen buried a three to make it 50-37 at 16:03.
• Yepdo's triple still had his team up 52-39 at 15:19, but Stewart netted six points in a 14-3 response, putting home a lay-up to cut the deficit to 55-53 with 12:16 left.
• In an ensuing 46-second span, Crews, Reid and Yepdo all knocked down threes, establishing a 64-53 lead by 10:50.
• The Owls twice rallied within six points, but the Purple Knights countered with buckets on the next possession each time. A 5-for-6 showing from the charity stripe in the final 44 seconds helped the hosts ice the win.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Wednesday vs. Assumption University, 7:30 p.m.
• The Purple Knights will host a Hope Happens Here Mental Health Awareness Game that night.