COLCHESTER, Vt. - First-year Quintin Floyd (Windsor, Conn./Choate Rosemary Hall) played a hand in 14 points during overtime, netting 11 of his team-high 22 points in the extra session, to lift the sixth-seeded Saint Michael's College men's basketball team over No. 7 Southern New Hampshire University, 81-72, on Wednesday evening during a Northeast 10 Conference Championship semifinal in the Ross Sports Center. The Purple Knights were seventh in this week's NCAA East Region poll, while the Penmen were eighth.
 
The Purple Knights return to the NE10 Championship title game for the first time since the 2000-01 season, heading to top-seeded Saint Anselm College on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip. The game will be broadcast live on SNY and NBC Sports Philadelphia+ and re-aired on SNY, NESN and NESN+.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (18-12), Southern New Hampshire (15-14)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Floyd, 22 points, 10-for-12 free throws
• Sophomore Greg Kenney (Williston Park, N.Y./The Frederick Gunn School/LIU), 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 5-for-6 free throws
• Senior Zocko Littleton (Albany, Ga./Osborne/Rider), 11 points, 3 assists
• Junior TJ Henaghen (Hampden, Maine/Williston Northampton School), 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4-for-5 field goals, 2-for-3 three-pointers
• Sophomore Rico Byrd (East Moline, Ill./The Kiski School), 7 points in 10 minutes
• Sophomore Raph Dumont (Quebec City, Quebec/Vanier College/Arkansas-Pine Bluff), 7 points
• Senior Nolan Marold (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Brewster Academy/Loyola Chicago), 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks
• Junior Latiek Briscoe Jr. (Brooklyn, N.Y./Saint Francis Prep/Saint Edward's), 6 rebounds
• First-year John Kelley (Plaistow, N.H./Kimball Union Academy), 4 rebounds (3 offensive)

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Sophomore Jojo Wallace, 26 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 4-for-10 three-pointers
• Senior T.J. Morris, 21 points, 9 rebounds, 10-for-21 field goals

GAME FACTS

• After scoring 23 points on 7-of-26 shooting in the second half, including 1-of-10 from three-point range, Saint Michael's netted 17 points on 4-of-4 shooting, including 3-of-3 from deep, in the five-minute overtime.
• Saint Michael's held a decisive 43-33 rebounding lead and committed only eight turnovers. The hosts shot 18-of-23 (78.3%) on free throws to the Penmen's 8-of-12 (66.7%) showing.
• The Purple and Gold hosted its second NE10 Championship semifinal in three years after advancing as far as the semifinal round only once in the prior 22 years.
• Saint Michael's and Southern New Hampshire met for the third time in three postseasons, with the Penmen winning both 2024 match-ups - in the NE10 semifinals and NCAA East Regional Championship final, both on the Purple Knights' home floor.
• Saint Michael's won for the second time in six all-time postseason meetings, while the Purple and Gold improved to 3-1 in the season series.
• In a typically unpredictable NE10 Championship, the teams played the league's second 6/7 semifinal in three years. A No. 6 seed advanced to the final as recently as Southern Connecticut State University in 2024 and last won in 2013, when Southern New Hampshire pulled the feat.
• Saint Michael's is now a respectable 3-3 all-time as a No. 6 seed.
• The Purple Knights improved to 20-6 at home in the postseason, including 11-4 during NE10 Championship play in the Ross Sports Center.

THE ACTION

• Briscoe scored five points during a game-opening 8-0 start, and the hosts later turned a 14-10 lead into a 36-17 margin at 5:12 of the first half on the strength of a 22-7 run that featured 5-for-7 three-point shooting. Littleton knocked down a pair of triples, including while converting a four-point play.
• Southern New Hampshire trimmed its deficit to 41-31 by halftime, when Wallace knocked down a triple with 41 seconds to go.
• The Penmen employed a 10-0 run early in the second half to rally within 45-43 on Wallace's three at 15:56 before the hosts twice pushed their lead back to nine.
• The visitors slowly chipped away and went ahead for the first time on Morris' driving lay-up at 4:12 (60-58), handing the Purple Knights their first deficit of the postseason.
• Morris' jumper at 1:41 had his team up 64-60, but Kenney made four straight free throws to knot the contest, including the tying freebies at 26.7 seconds. Wallace nearly won the game on a driving lay-up at the buzzer, but the ball rimmed out.
• In the extra session, Floyd made a pair of free throws 32 seconds in to give his team the lead for good before dishing to Kenney for a corner three at 3:42 to make it 69-64. Floyd's pull-up jumper in the paint at 2:19 kept his team up five before he (1:33) and Henaghen (0:59) buried consecutive threes to put the game out of reach at 78-67 with less than a minute to go.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday at Saint Anselm, 1 p.m. for NE10 Championship title game.
• The Hawks received votes toward this week's National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) national poll and were third in the NCAA East Region rankings.