Franklin Pierce
Streak Stopped at Saint Rose, 92-83 ALBANY, N.Y. (January 14, 2003) - College of Saint Rose erased an early deficit and went on to post a 92-83 victory over Franklin Pierce in Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action at the Campus Activities Center tonight. Senior Phil Sellers netted a game-high 28 points, on 12-of-15 shooting from the field, and dished five assists to lead Saint Rose. Sophomore Kyl Jones hit 9-13 from the field, including 6-7 from three-point range, for 24 points to go with eight rebounds. Junior Jesse Cort added 17 points, aided by a 7-8 effort at the free-throw line, five rebounds and three assists. Junior Jimmie Hunt (Utica, N.Y./Mount Ararat (Maine)) led Franklin Pierce with 20 points and six assists. Senior Sharod Campbell (Dorchester, Mass./Boston English) added 13 points, on 6-8 shooting, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Classmate Tom Waterman (Bangor, Maine/Bangor) contributed 13 points, four assists and two steals, while Zvonko Ilic (Nis, Yugoslavia) chipped in 13 points, five rebounds and two steals in 20 minutes off the bench. After trailing by six (10-4) just 2:25 into the game, Franklin Pierce used a 17-4 run over the next six minutes to take a seven-point lead (21-14) with 11:15 to go in the opening stanza. Hunt sparked the rally with five points, including a three-pointer that cut the deficit to one (10-9) at the 16:01-mark. Saint Rose answered that rally with a 10-2 run regain the lead (24-23) at the 6:36-mark. Jones led the run with five points. Leading by two (32-30) with 2:42 left in the opening half, the Golden Knights took command of the game with an 11-2 run to close the half. Sellers sparked this run with a pair of buckets. Saint Rose led by as much as 14 points (66-52 with 12:19 to play) in the second half, but Franklin Pierce had one last run left. Trailing by 11 (81-70) with 5:01 to play, the Ravens cut the deficit to one-point (82-81) with 1:46 on the clock. Senior Allister Gall (Plymouth, England) sparked the run with a three-pointer, and then Ilic closed it out with six-straight points. The Golden Knights answered with a Sellers three-ball to bump the lead back to four (85-81) with 1:10 to play, and after a missed lay-up on the Ravens end, he added a lay-in and the lead was back up to six with 40-seconds to play. Franklin Pierce (6-9, 4-6 NE-10), which saw a season-high three-game winning streak snapped tonight, returns to action on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Smithfield, R.I., for a Conference match-up with Bryant College at 3:30 p.m. Saint Rose (9-5, 5-4 NE-10) hosts American International College on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. |
