Purple Knights 13-0 run to end
first half keys victory
COLCHESTER, Vt. (January 8,
2005) - Saint Michael's College handed Franklin Pierce its
sixth-straight Conference loss with an 80-73 victory in
Northeast-10 men's basketball action at the Ross Sports Complex
this afternoon.
Saint Michael's scored the final 13
points of the first half to take a 44-32 lead into the lockerroom.
The Purple Knights led by as much as 15 points on five different
occasions in the second half before holding off a late Franklin
Pierce challenge to collect the win.
Freshman guard James
Sorrentine (Pawtucket, R.I./St. Raphael Academy)
canned eight-of-ten attempts from three-point range to key a
season-high 30 points to go with five assists, four rebounds and
three steals. Sorrentine connected on 9-of-13 shots from the field
overall and was perfect on four free-throw attempts.
Senior Eric Swieczynski
(Wilmington, Mass./Wilmington) added 13 points and
six rebounds, while sophomore Chris Cayole (Burlington,
Vt./Burlington) finished with ten points and a
game-high eight rebounds. Junior BJ Robertson
(Burlington, Vt./Burlington) chipped in ten points.
Freshman Mitchell
Johnson (Nassau, Bahamas/Cushing Academy) led
Franklin Pierce with a season-high 23 points, finishing 9-13 from
the field, including 5-7 from three-point range, to go with four
rebounds. Junior Justin Powell (Brookline,
Mass./Brookline) added 13 points and four rebounds,
while sophomore Darryl Minnifield (Boston,
Mass./Brookline) finished with 12 points. Junior
Pierre Sully (Jamaica Plain, Mass./North Cambridge
Catholic) chipped in nine points, four rebounds, six
assists and four steals.
Sorrentine canned 5-of-6
three-point attempts en route to scoring 21 of Saint Michael's 44
points on the opening 20 minutes. He scored ten of the Purple
Knights 13 points during their run to close the half.
After a Sorrentine three and a
free-throw from junior Mike Keating (Saint Paul,
Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall), Saint Michael's led by 13
(75-62) with 3:24 to play. However, a steal and dunk from Johnson
sparked a Ravens comeback which would draw them within five points
(76-71) with 52-seconds to play after a Johnson three-pointer. That
would be as close as the Ravens would get, as the Purple Knights
made all four free-throw attempts down the stretch to ice the
victory.
Franklin Pierce (3-9, 1-6 NE-10) is
back in action on Tuesday when it hosts No. 14-ranked Saint Anselm
College at 7:30 p.m. Saint Michael's (5-8, 2-6 NE-10) visits
Southern New Hampshire University on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
BOX
SCORE
