NH college basketball: UNH, SNHU, KSC men bring momentum into road matchups
Feb. 2—The men's basketball teams from UNH, SNHU and Keene State will carry some momentum on the road for Saturday contests.
The Wildcats, coming off a 74-67 overtime victory at New Jersey Institute of Technology on Wednesday night, visit Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island, on Saturday at 1 p.m. UNH and Bryant are in the thick of the America East race. At 6-3, the Wildcats occupy second place by themselves (behind 6-2 Vermont) while the Bulldogs (5-4) stand in a three-way tie for fourth.
On Wednesday, junior college transfer Clarence Daniels posted his fifth straight double-double, registering 20 points and 13 rebounds as the Wildcats survived a rough shooting night (38.5% from the field, 55% from the foul line). Matt Herasme added 14 points and eight rebounds, Kyree Brown 12 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, and Jaxson Baker 12 points.
Nazim Derry added four points, including the 1,000th of his college career. Derry scored most of his points at Division II Goldey-Beacom before transferring to UNH before this season. He has 123 with the Wildcats.
Bryant beat UNH 87-81 in the teams' previous meeting on Jan. 14 in Durham.
SNHU, meanwhile, will be sky-high after its 81-76 victory at No. 11 Bentley on Wednesday night in Waltham, Mass. Matt Becht, a junior from Vienna, Virginia, poured in 34 points on 9-for-14 field goal shooting (6-for-11 from long distance) and 10-for-10 from the stripe.
The Penmen improved to 10-4 in the Northeast-10, 13-7 overall and will visit Adelphi on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in Garden City, New York.
Saint Anselm, 11-4 in the NE-10 and 15-6 overall, has the weekend off after a 77-56 loss to Pace on Wednesday night at home. Before Wednesday's game, Hawks senior Tyler Arbuckle was honored for recently scoring his 1,000th career point on The Hilltop.
Perhaps the hottest Division II club in the Granite State, Franklin Pierce, ran its win streak to seven with 73-62 victory at Saint Michael's on Wednesday night. The Ravens (9-5 in the NE-10, 14-7 overall) visit Le Moyne on Saturday in Syracuse, New York.
Keene State, meanwhile, continues to roll in the Little East Conference. The Owls, ranked No. 6 in Division III, blitzed Eastern Connecticut State 92-66 on Wednesday for their 20th win (against one loss). KSC, 12-0 in the conference, visits Western Connecticut State on Saturday in a matchup of the league's top teams. WestConn is 19-1 overall, 11-1 in the Little East.
Dartmouth, meanwhile, stays home for Ivy League play to host Brown on Friday and Yale on Saturday. Game times at Leede Arena in Hanover are 6 p.m. both nights. The Big Green are 4-3 in the Ivies, 8-13 overall. Brown is 3-4 in the league, Yale 4-3.
The Big Green are coming off an 83-74 victory over Columbia last Saturday in which senior Dame Adelekun tied the Leede Arena scoring record with 41 points. His output was the most ever by a Dartmouth player at Leede and matched the 41 scored by Cornell's Matt Morgan in 2019.
Adelekun also pulled down 10 rebounds, becoming the first player in the nation this season to have a 40-point double-double in a regulation game.
