MANCHESTER, N.H. The American International College men's basketball tea, put up a valiant effort, but fell short at Southern New Hampshire University Friday night in a Northeast-10 Championship first round contest, 88-82.
The Yellow Jackets finished the regular season 11-16, while the Penmen improve to 19-10 and advance to play Southern Connecticut State University Sunday in quarterfinal action Sunday.
American International got it going early in the paint, using three Cameron Dobbs (Albany, N.Y.) layups and an old fashioned three-point play from Oscar Assie (Ansonia, Conn.) to put AIC up, 9-4, in the opening minutes.
AIC came out with a high intensity, forcing five Penmen turnovers in the first quarter of the game, leading to four points. The Yellow Jackets were also cleaning up the offensive glass, registering five offensive boards that led to five early second chance points.
The two teams went stale, going 2:18 without a field goal before SNHU senior Rodney Sanders hit an elbow jumper. The field goal awoke AIC as freshman Jayvon Pitts-Young (Portland, Maine) knocked down his first three of the game, opening the flood gates for Dobbs who went on to hit a pair from behind the arc. Dobbs finished the first half with a team-high 16 points off 6-15 shooting, choosing to take just five three's in the opening half.
The Yellow jacket defense played tough for 20 minutes, holding SNHU to 37.1 percent shooting. Senior Trahmier Burrell (Albany, N.Y.) came off the bench and was a force down low, grabbing four offensive boards and chipping in eight points.
AIC led by as many as nine at the 3:44 mark, but the Penmen chipped away at the lead, trailing just four at the break, 40-36. The Jackets hustle was imminent, scoring 17 off second chance opportunities and turnovers.
Knowing both their season's relied on the next 20 minutes, both squads came out of the internission pushing. Sanders knocked down a corner three next to his bench and on the ensuing possession converted an old fashioned three-point play.
For the Jackets, junior Juwan Moody (Pontiac, Mich.) and Assie provided the early fireworks. Moody hit his first trey of the half and went coast-to-coast for a contested lay-in. Assie remained hungry on the offensive boards and turned them into two second chance buckets.
The Penmen were able to knot it at 49 all at the 13:41 mark, but Dobbs quickly erased the momentum with a long range shot taken five feet behind the arc. AIC led for 23:27 of the game, but majority of it coming in the first half as the Penmen took control at the 8:34 mark and refused to cease the lead from there.
With under two minutes to play, Moody started the rally, hitting a shot from behind the arc to pull within five, 80-75. On the defensive end, the Yellow Jackets smothered a driving BJ Cardarelli leading to a fast-break layup from Dobbs to pull within three. Cardarelli made up for his blunder, connecting for yet another corner three to essentially put away the game.
Dobbs finished with a team-high 24 points, while Moody chipped in 21 points including 6-6 from the free throw line. Both Assie and Burrell grabbed eight rebounds which included nine combined offensive boards. Each team shot well from the charity stripe, AIC going 21-26, while SNHU put in 27-32 freebies.
This marked the third straight season AIC has made the NE-10 Championship postseason.
