Men's Basketball Clinches Playoff Berth With 62-52 Win At Southern N.H.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: Seth Cole - Phone: 802.654.2537

MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team (12-12, 10-10 Northeast-10 Conference) led from start to finish in a 62-52 win at Southern New Hampshire University on Wednesday evening.

Freshman Michael Holton, Jr. (Portland, Ore./Sunset/The Winchendon School) scored a game-high 16 points and added six rebounds to help the Purple Knights clinch the program's first playoff berth since 2007. Saint Michael's will play in the First Round of the NE-10 Tournament on February 26, and have a chance to host that contest. The win was also the fourth in Saint Michael's last five games, and seventh in the last 10 contests.

Also for Saint Michael's, junior Tyler Schilling (Excelsior, Minn./Minnetonka) recorded 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while senior Nate Birr (Burnsville, Minn./Saint Thomas Academy) picked up 10 points, six rebounds and seven assists.

For SNHU (10-14, 6-14 NE-10), Cory Vejraska tallied 12 points, while Craig Marriro and Tory Stapleton had 10 points and six rebounds apiece.

Saint Michael's opened the game strong, as the Purple Knights made half of their field goal attempts in the first half (13-of-26), while SNHU shot just 8-of-31 from the field in the opening period (26 percent), including 0-of-13 from beyond the arc. That led to a 34-22 Saint Michael's lead at intermission.

The Purple Knights kept up the intensity in the second half, and stretched their lead to a game-high 20 points with 8:56 left in the contest. Saint Michael's hung on despite not making a field goal in the final five minutes, and picked up its third road win of the season in the process.

Saint Michael's returns to action on Saturday with a 3 p.m. game at Merrimack College.

-PURPLEKNIGHTS-