This content originally appeared on SNHUPenmen.com
Senior Chris Walters (Stamford, Conn.) racked up a game-high 32 points and completed his fourth straight double-double, as the No. 19/25 Southern New Hampshire University men’s basketball team bounced back from Saturday’s tough loss to finish out its Florida trip with an 82-66 victory against Saint Leo University on Sunday at the Bowman Center.
Walters was 9-for-18 from the floor, including 2-for-3 from beyond the arc, and 12-for-13 from the line, while corralling 11 rebounds and blocking three shots. Junior Daquaise Andrews (Queens, N.Y.) registered 20 points (9-10 FG, 2-2 3-FG), eight boards, four steals and two assists.
Isaiah Hill paced the Lions with 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while Tyreece Brice, who netted his 1,000th point in a Saint Leo uniform in the contest, finished with 13.
Southern New Hampshire, which led wire-to-wire, held a 7-6 edge more than three minutes into the game when an Andrews 3-pointer set off a 25-4 avalanche that put the Penmen in front, 32-10, with 9:44 remaining in the opening half. Six different scorers contributed during the stretch, including Walters, who led the way with 10, and Andrews, who dropped in five.
The margin was still 22 more than three minutes later when another Andrews trey triggered a 15-4 barrage that gave SNHU its largest lead of the game at 51-18 with 1:47 on the clock. Senior Dimitri Floras (Merrimack, N.H.) paced the run with five points, while Walters and junior Remo Simankevicius (Melbourne, Australia) each added three. Southern New Hampshire would head to the break with a commanding 53-20 advantage.
Saint Leo came charging out of the locker room on a 19-5 run – with six points each from Hill and Brice – to slash its deficit to 58-39 with 11:49 to play. SNHU would push its lead to as many as 25 with just under eight minutes left, but the Lions would again roar back with a 16-5 blitz that trimmed the deficit to 74-60 at the 3:35 mark. Junior Searcy and Kyran McClure led the balanced attack with four points each, but time would run out on Saint Leo.
Junior Charlie Russo (Syracuse, N.Y.) tallied eight points (3-6 FG, 1-2 3-FG, 1-1 FT), two rebounds and three assists, while sophomore Ryogo Sumino (Kanagawa, Japan) posted seven points (2-4 FG, 1-2 3-FG, 2-2 FT) and three boards. Floras chimed in with five points (2-7 FG, 1-2 FT), two rebounds and four assists, with Simankevicius adding five points (2-4 FG, 1-2 FT), three boards and two helpers.
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