Men's Basketball Faces Queens (N.Y.) for First Time Since 1987 Saturday
SNHU (5-5)
vs.
Queens (N.Y.) (3-5)
Saturday, December 17, 2011 - 8:00 pm
SNHU Fieldhouse - Manchester, N.H.
THE MATCHUP: Southern New Hampshire faces its second of three straight East Coast Conference foes when it hosts Queens (N.Y.) Saturday night.
Saturday's game will not be heard on WTPL 107.7 FM as originally scheduled, and has been replaced with the February 18 game at Merrimack.
THE COACHES: Stan Spirou is in his 27th season as head coach at Southern New Hampshire...he owns a 515-269 (.657) career record in 26-plus seasons at the helm...Spirou was honored as the New England Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year four times (1993, 94, 95, 99) and has led the Penmen to 14 NCAA Tournaments, four NCAA Regional titles and fourteen 20 win seasons...Kyrk Peponakis is in his 17th season at Queens...he has compiled a 233-222 career record and guided the Knights to back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths in 2001 and 2002.
THE SERIES:Southern New Hampshire and Queens have met just twice, with each team winning once...the two teams have not faced each other since December 30, 1987, when the Knights defeated the Penmen 69-68 in a game played at Sacred Heart...the only other meeting came on December 15, 1985, with SNHU posting an 85-76 win at the SNHU Fieldhouse.
THE PENMEN: Southern New Hampshire is coming off a 74-60 setback at NYIT on Wednesday night...the Penmen have knocked off two of the top three teams in the Northeast-10 preseason poll, defeating UMass Lowell (80-68) and Saint Anselm (81-65)...freshman Elijah Bonsignore currently leads the Penmen in scoring (12.4 ppg) while also grabbing 4.4 rebounds per game...Bonsignore is shooting 53.3% from the floor...BJ Cardarelli, who moved into the starting lineup on December 3, is averaging 11.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting 51.2% from the field...he has knocked down a team-best 16 three-pointers and was the Northeast-10 Rookie of the Week on November 28...Tory Stapleton is averaging 10.2 points and a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game, while Aleksandar Dobrovic is adding 9.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game...Greg DeSantis leads the team in assists (30) while adding 8.5 ppg...the Penmen are shooting .427 overall, .341 behind the arc and .671 at the free throw line while allowing opponents to shoot .438 overall and .354 behind the arc...the Penmen are scoring 70.4 points per game while allowing 67.5 and are outrebounding teams 38.9-35.4.
THE KNIGHTS: Queens has dropped two in a row and is coming off a 79-64 home setback to Stonehill on Tuesday night...Khalil McDonald leads the Knights in both scoring (17.0 ppg) and rebounding (8.4 rpg)...Jeremiah Mordi is the other Queens player averaging double figures, as he is scoring at a 12.8 ppg clip...Mordi is also grabbing 5.3 rebounds per game and leads the team in assists with 23...Pat Piasecki is scoring 9.1 ppg, while Edil Lacayo has drained a team-high 16 three-pointers and is adding 8.4 ppg...the Knights are shooting .400 overall, .314 from three-point land and .718 at the free throw line while allowing opponents to shoot .420 overall and .366 behind the arc...Queens is scoring 61.2 ppg while allowing 68.1 while outrebounding foes 34.9-34.1.
WHAT'S NEXT: SNHU is idle until December 30 when it travels to Brookville, N.Y. to face C.W. Post...the Penmen then return to conference play January 3 when they host Le Moyne.
