COLCHESTER, Vt. - In front of a capacity Ross Sports Center crowd, the top-seeded/22nd-ranked Saint Michael's College men's basketball team's season concluded in the Sweet 16 on Tuesday evening with a 73-61 loss to third-seeded Southern New Hampshire University in the NCAA Division II East Regional Championship title game.
 
The 10th all-Northeast-10 Conference East Regional final was the second meeting this postseason between the teams, after the league-champion Penmen downed Saint Michael's in an NE10 Championship semifinal. Southern New Hampshire advances to the Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind., with national quarterfinals beginning next Tuesday.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (24-9), Southern New Hampshire (24-10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Senior Romar Reid (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Woodstock Academy/Manhattan), 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 offensive rebounds, 3 assists, 6-for-8 free throws
• Sophomore Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 offensive rebounds, 3-for-5 field goals
• Sophomore Darrel Yepdo (Dracut, Mass./Brooks School), 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2-for-5 three-pointers
• Junior CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 three-pointers
• Junior Jhamyl Fricas (Lawrence, Mass./Worcester Academy/Connors State), 10 points, 2-for-4 three-pointers
• First-year Sebastian Andersson (Stockholm, Sweden/Korrespondensgymnasiet/Eastern Washington), 7 rebounds, 3 offensive rebounds

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Graduate student Matt Becht, 18 points, 8 rebounds, 3-for-8 three-pointers, 5-for-5 free throws
• Senior Noah Kamba, 16 points, 4-for-7 three-pointers, 4-for-4 free throws
• Senior Preston Santos, 14 points, 7 rebounds, 4-for-8 field goals
• Junior Derrick Grant, 9 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks
• Junior Kurtis Henderson, 9 points, 7 rebounds

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights were 22nd in this week's D2CSC national poll and received votes toward the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) rankings.
• Southern New Hampshire was this year's NE10 Championship titlist.
• The Purple Knights made their 13th NCAA Tournament appearance, and first since 2000-01. They sought their fifth regional crown, last claiming a spot in the Elite Eight in 1965.
• Saint Michael's became the fourth team in the NE10's 44-year history to qualify for an NCAA Tournament one year after finishing with the league's worst record. Only one had previously advanced past the opening round, with the Purple Knights the only to reach a regional final.
• The Purple Knights committed only four turnovers, their fewest since Feb. 7, 2015. They held a 15-5 lead on the offensive glass while claiming a 15-4 advantage in points off of turnovers. The Penmen posted a 24-11 scoring lead from the charity stripe. The teams swapped the lead 14 times.
• Becht was named tournament most outstanding player, joining Grant, Marold, Reid and Post University's Bol Akot on the all-tournament team.

THE ACTION

• Becht (17:34) and Santos (16:50) knocked down three-pointers to give the Penmen a pair of early four-point leads, but Marold and Yepdo both scored four points in a 10-0 run that pushed the Purple Knights into a 15-10 lead by 12:17 of the opening half.
• Back-to-back threes by junior Jacob Duniver (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy) and Crews had the hosts in front 21-13 by 11:07.
• Henderson scored the final five points of a 13-4 counter that put Southern New Hampshire up 26-25 with 5:37 to go, but Fricas and Reid split the scoring in a 10-0 run, and Saint Michael's led 38-29 at 2:41. The hosts carried a 40-34 advantage into halftime.
• The Penmen trimmed the deficit to a single point four times in the early stages of the second half, but Marold and Reid responded twice apiece with points to extend the lead, which got as big as four points.
• Becht produced a 51-49 lead for the visitors on a jumper at 10:49, but Fricas (7:55) and Yepdo (6:41) later canned consecutive triples to give Saint Michael's a 61-56 edge.
• Becht (5:17) and Kamba (2:37) hit consecutive threes to provide the Penmen a 63-61 lead, and a pair of misses on the next Saint Michael's possession was followed by Henderson hitting back-to-back baskets at 1:39 and 1:03 that extended Southern New Hampshire's lead to six.
• The Purple Knights missed on the next possession, and the visitors salted away the win with a 6-for-6 free throw effort in the final 42 seconds, with Kamba making four.