Mayo cans career-best six
three-pointers en route to career-high 29 points
RINDGE, N.H. (December 13,
2006) - Franklin Pierce held off a late Southern New
Hampshire University rally to collect a 73-72 victory in
Northeast-10 Conference men's basketball action at the Fieldhouse
tonight.
Senior Darryl Minnifield
(Boston, Mass./Brookline) hit a free-throw with two
seconds left in regulation to secure the victory after Southern New
Hampshire rallied from a ten-point deficit early in the second
half. The winning free-throw was Minnifield's third in the closing
seconds of a game this season.
Senior Sean Mayo (Saco,
Maine/Thornton Academy) led Franklin Pierce with a
career-high 29 points (16 second half) and he drained a career-best
six three-pointers on eight attempts and finished shooting 11-of-16
from the floor overall. He also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds,
dished three assists and added two steals and a block on the night.
Minnifield finished with ten points and six rebounds, while
freshman Marcus Wellman (Monroe, Conn./Hamden
Hall) totaled 11 points and two
assists.
Junior Sam Carey
(Manchester, N.H./Central) led Southern New Hampshire with
17 points, hitting 7-of-10 from the field, and five rebounds.
Classmate P. Jay Bernard (Brockton, Mass./Loomis
Chaffee) totaled 16 points, four rebounds and four
assists, while sophomore Chris Brickley (Manchester,
N.H./Northeastern Univ.) added 13 points, six rebounds,
four assists and two steals. Freshman Paul Chergey (Bow,
N.H./Bow) hit all four shots from the field, including all
three three-point attempts, for 11 points and four rebounds off the
bench.
Southern New Hampshire led by five
at the break (36-31) following a first half which featured four
ties and ten lead changes. The Penmen shot 62.5-percent (15-of-24)
from the field in the stanza, compared to 43.3% (13-30) for the
Ravens.
Franklin Pierce stormed out of the
locker room with a 19-4 burst over the opening five minutes of the
second half to take a ten-point lead (50-40) after a Minnifield
three-pointer with 15:09 left. Mayo sparked the run with three
three-pointers and a conventional three-point
play.
The Penmen closed to within a point
(58-57) with a 17-8 run over the next seven minutes, capped by a
Bernard layup with 8:20 to play. Brickley and Chergey fueled the
run with a pair of three's each. Chergey scored on a dunk off an
inbounds play to knot the score at 60-60 with 7:18 to play and the
game was back and forth until the Ravens opened a five-point lead
(70-65) with 2:45 left after a Wellman three and Mayo layup.
Franklin Pierce's lead was still
five after a pair of Minnifield free-throws with 46-seconds left,
but the Penmen got a Brickley jumper and Bernard three-pointer to
knot the score at 72-72 with 17-seconds to play. Minnifield was
fouled going to the basket with two-seconds left and after missing
his first attempt, buried the second after an SNHU timeout with
two-seconds left. A Brickley three at the buzzer fell well short to
seal the victory for Franklin Pierce.
Franklin Pierce (6-4, 4-3 NE-10) is
off for final exams until next Thursday, December 21, when it hosts
Caldwell College for a non-conference match-up at 6 p.m. Southern
N.H. (1-7, 1-7 NE-10) visits Assumption College on Saturday at 3:30
p.m.
BOXSCORE
& PLAY-BY-PLAY
