Courtesy St. Michael’s Sports Information<\/p>\n
Two Stories Below …<\/p>\n
WALTHAM, MA. — Redshirt junior Thomas Jackson III (Middletown, Conn.\/Holderness School) scored his team’s final 14 points and made two key defensive plays in the final minute to lift the Saint Michael’s College men’s basketball team past regionally-ranked Bentley University, 74-71, on Saturday during Northeast-10 Conference play in the Dana Center. The Falcons were eighth in the latest D2SIDA East Region Media Poll.<\/p>\n
RECORDS
\n\u00b7 Saint Michael’s (7-14, 4-10 NE10), Bentley (16-8, 8-7 NE10)<\/p>\n
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS
\n\u00b7 Redshirt junior Thomas Jackson III (Middletown, Conn.\/Holderness School), 23 points (career high), 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, 10-for-10 field goals
\n\u00b7 Senior Jordan Guzman (Staten Island, N.Y.\/Xaverian), 18 points, 3 assists, 7-for-13 field goals
\n\u00b7 First-year Kasai Brown (Brooklyn, N.Y.\/Millbrook School), 12 points, 5 rebounds
\n\u00b7 Senior Eli DiGrande (Essex Junction, Vt.\/Essex), 9 points, 7 rebounds, 4-for-7 field goals
\n\u00b7 Sophomore Jontai Williams (Bronx, N.Y.\/Cardinal Hayes), 8 points, 2 steals, 3-for-5 field goals<\/p>\n
OPPONENT LEADERS
\n\u00b7 Senior Chris Hudson, 20 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks
\n\u00b7 Junior Jordan Mello-Klein, 16 points, 5 rebounds, 4-for-6 three-pointers
\n\u00b7 Sophomore Mason Webb, 13 points<\/p>\n
GAME FACTS
\n\u00b7 Bentley was eighth in this week’s D2SIDA East Region Media Poll.
\n\u00b7 The Purple Knights moved to 4-3 in their last seven games, with this the second win over a regionally-ranked squad in that time, while a third had been ranked as recently as last month.
\n\u00b7 The Purple Knights are 2.5 games out of the fifth and final postseason berth in the NE10 Northeast Division with five games remaining.
\n\u00b7 The Purple Knights had last played last Saturday.
\n\u00b7 At 6-6 away from home, the Purple and Gold has its most road wins since 2014-15.
\n\u00b7 Saint Michael’s had last won against Bentley on Dec. 7, 2016, in similar close fashion, taking a 77-76 decision in the Dana Center.
\n\u00b7 The Purple Knights outshot the Falcons, 56.4 percent to 44.6 percent, while committing 14 turnovers to the hosts’ 15. Despite the narrow margin in the latter category, Saint Michael’s claimed a 21-11 lead in points off of giveaways.
\n\u00b7 Jackson scored 18 of the Purple Knights’ final 21 points over the closing 11:32 of the game.
\n\u00b7 After just two Saint Michael’s players went 10-for-10 in a game over more than 2,000 games in the first more than 100 seasons – Jerry Mizerak ’83 (12\/19\/81) and Tyler Schilling ’12 (12\/28\/09) – Jackson became the second Purple Knight in just three games to turn the feat, with DiGrande also doing so on Jan. 29 against another regionally-ranked outfit, Adelphi University, also in a victory. Jackson is the 16th player in NCAA men’s basketball this season to go at least 10-for-10, and the seventh in Division II, while he and DiGrande are the first teammates in the country – at any division – to both post such a line during the same season since at least 2010-11, when the NCAA database began tracking such feats.<\/p>\n
THE ACTION
\n\u00b7 DiGrande buried a three to spark a 7-2 start just 2:35 into play, and the Purple and Gold ultimately led 18-10 on Guzman’s lay-in at 11:24 of the opening half.
\n\u00b7 Three different Falcons hit threes during a tying 14-6 stretch, with Mello-Klein scoring eight points, but Jackson responded with a triple at 6:32 to put the visitors up, 27-24, and into the lead for the remainder of the half. Guzman knocked down a trey in the final 10 seconds to keep Saint Michael’s ahead 44-37 at intermission.
\n\u00b7 Bentley started the second half on a 9-0 run, forging ahead on sophomore Brian Wright-Kinsey’s three-pointer to account for the first of five lead swings in a matter of 3:06.
\n\u00b7 First-year Isaac Martin hit a long-range shot to provide the Falcons a 60-58 edge with 8:22 to go, but Brown’s jumper 33 seconds later knotted the teams and led to Jackson’s closing performance.
\n\u00b7 Webb’s jumper with 5:49 left pushed the Bentley lead to 64-60 before Jackson netted consecutive buckets to tie the game, only to see Mello-Klein drain a three and Webb knock down a jumper to make it 69-64 at 4:02.
\n\u00b7 A Jackson jumper was countered by two Webb freebies, keeping the teams separated by five points, before Jackson buried a straightaway triple at 1:50.
\n\u00b7 Guzman knocked a Bentley pass into the arms of Williams with less than 90 seconds to go, and Jackson came out of a timeout by driving for the tying lay-up at 1:03.
\n\u00b7 With 45 ticks to go, Jackson provided pressure and forced a Falcon turnover on the baseline before converting another driving lay-in at 30.6 seconds, giving Saint Michael’s a 73-71 edge.
\n\u00b7 At the other end, DiGrande played tight defense on a driving Webb in the closing seconds before Jackson came over to block a potential game-tying jumper, and DiGrande saved the ball from out of bounds to Williams, who was fouled at 4.3 seconds.
\n\u00b7 Saint Michael’s maintained the two-point edge with Bentley inbounding from under its own hoop with 2.3 seconds to go, but a pass to midcourt was knocked away by Brown off of a Falcon. The ensuing Purple Knight inbounds pass went to Jackson, who was fouled and made his first free throw at 0.3 seconds before a miss was rebounded by Hudson, who had no time to launch a tying desperation full-court attempt at the buzzer.<\/p>\n
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S GAME
\n\u00b7 Tuesday at Assumption College, 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
WALTHAM, MA. — The Saint Michael’s College women’s basketball team was within single digits of regionally-ranked Bentley University until late in the third quarter during an eventual 78-55 loss on Saturday in Northeast-10 Conference play at the Dana Center. The Falcons tied for fourth in this week’s D2SIDA East Region Media Poll.<\/p>\n
RECORDS
\n\u00b7 Saint Michael’s (8-12, 2-12 NE10), Bentley (16-6, 11-3 NE10)<\/p>\n
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS
\n\u00b7 Senior Taylor Miller (Falmouth, Mass.\/Falmouth), 19 points (tied career high), 8 rebounds, 4 offensive rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 7-for-8 free throws
\n\u00b7 Junior Nicole Anderson (Kittery Point, Maine\/Marianapolis Prep), 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4-for-5 free throws
\n\u00b7 Senior Alyssa Breunig (Trumbull, Conn.\/Trumbull), 5 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists, 5-for-6 free throws
\n\u00b7 Sophomore Nicole Ladas (Glastonbury, Conn.\/Tilton School), 6 points, 5 rebounds
\n\u00b7 First-year Kyara Triblet (Niskayuna, N.Y.\/Colonie Central), 6 points, 3-for-5 field goals
\n\u00b7 Sophomore Emma MacDonough (South Burlington, Vt.\/South Burlington), 3 assists<\/p>\n
OPPONENT LEADERS
\n\u00b7 First-year Ella Thompson, 15 points, 5 assists, 3-for-5 three-pointers
\n\u00b7 Sophomore Kolleen Bouchard, 13 points, 3 assists, 6-for-6 field goals
\n\u00b7 Junior Erin Nolan, 11 points, 7 rebounds
\n\u00b7 Sophomore Kari Brekke, 10 points, 8 assists<\/p>\n
GAME FACTS
\n\u00b7 Bentley was tied for fourth in this week’s D2SIDA East Region Media Poll.
\n\u00b7 The Purple Knights had last played last Saturday.
\n\u00b7 Miller tied Amy Pitchers ’08 for sixth in program history in career blocks (109).
\n\u00b7 Anderson matched Anne Marie McLoughlin ’91 for 10th in school annals in three-pointers during a season (56).
\n\u00b7 Saint Michael’s committed only 13 turnovers while forcing Bentley into 18 thanks to 11 steals. The visitors shot 18-for-21 on free throws, while the Falcons were 12-for-16.<\/p>\n
THE ACTION
\n\u00b7 Thompson buried a three-pointer 25 seconds into the game for the first points, but Ladas and Miller converted back-to-back buckets, with Miller finishing a three-point play to make it 5-3, and Anderson’s basket-and-one provided the visitors an 8-5 edge at 5:35 of the opening period.
\n\u00b7 Junior Katie Meriggioli scored the next five points, but three straight Miller points gave the Purple Knights an 11-10 lead with 1:15 left.
\n\u00b7 From the time they trailed 8-5 to leading 21-11 at 9:05 of the second period when senior Julia Ford drained a three, the Falcons put together a 16-3 run to forge in front for good.
\n\u00b7 Saint Michael’s twice drew within eight points, including being down 23-15 on two Breunig freebies at 5:50, but Bentley closed out the half with a 9-2 run, as the first seven points came on free throws. Two Miller free throws accounted for the Purple Knight points. Bentley led 32-17 at halftime.
\n\u00b7 After scoring 17 points in the opening 20 minutes, the Purple Knights held a 25-22 scoring edge in the third stanza, shooting 57.1 percent to creep within single digits.
\n\u00b7 The visitors fell behind by 17 to begin the third quarter, but Anderson’s personal 7-0 run trimmed the deficit to 34-24, and Miller found Ladas for a lay-in that created a 35-26 margin with 7:51 to go.
\n\u00b7 However, four different Falcons scored during an 11-3 counter, and Bouchard’s three-point play pushed the lead back to 17 at 46-29.
\n\u00b7 An 8-0 Purple Knight spurt featured points from four different players, with MacDonough’s put-back making it 50-41 with 2:18 left.
\n\u00b7 Bentley slowly pulled away on the strength of a 24-8 run that carried into the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S GAME
\n\u00b7 Tuesday at Assumption College, 5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Courtesy St. Michael’s Sports Information Two Stories Below … WALTHAM, MA. — Redshirt junior Thomas Jackson III (Middletown, Conn.\/Holderness School) scored his team’s final 14 points and made two key defensive plays in the final minute to lift the Saint Michael’s College men’s basketball team past regionally-ranked Bentley University, 74-71, on Saturday during Northeast-10 Conference […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[280,279],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n