Kevin Crompton – Sports Editor
Career nights from freshman guard Ulyen Coleman and junior guard Isaiah McLeod propelled the Owls in matching their highest scoring barrage this season.
SCSU men’s basketball knocked off cross-town rival UNH last Wednesday night for the second time this season with a final score of 94-75. The last time the Owls scored 94 points in a game this year was back in early December with a win over Pace University.
McLeod reached a career milestone when he drilled a 3-pointer at the start of the second half, recording his 1,000-career point. Coleman registered a career-high 29 points and went 9-12 from beyond the arc. He was one basket away from the SCSU single-game record for 3-pointers made. Coleman said there was a moment when he felt he simply could not miss from three.
“After the third one in the first half,” said Coleman, “I just felt like tonight was my night and they kept finding me so I just kept letting it go.”
The freshman guard was not the only Owl taking advantage of the three ball. In total, the team shot 65.4 percent from long range. Freshman Jesper Sandager went 3-3, senior Bernard Brantley only missed on one of his three attempts, and nine of McLeod’s 22 points came from beyond the arc.
“It just flowed,” said head coach Scott Burrell. “Ulyen and Isaiah are great 3-point shooters, but they just felt it tonight. Then Bernard made a couple threes and everyone was making their shots, and it carried over to the second half. And obviously when people are making threes, you know, threes beat twos.”
After Southern’s previous victory vs. Saint Michael’s college on Jan. 27, Burrell said his team lacked focus. He stressed the importance of finding that focus again in order to continue their winning streak.
“We focused for 40 minutes tonight at both ends,” Burrell said after beating UNH by 19 points. “We made everything hard for them, we ran our offense well, we got good shots and we made shots. That was the best start to finish game we played all year.”
Burrell also commented on Coleman and the talent that the young guard possesses.
“I hope he gets better every year,” said Burrell. “He’s talented, he strokes it, he’s big, he has a handle and he’s going to get more confident and get stronger as he gets older. He can be one of the best to ever play here.”
The Owls have shown success when at home this season winning eight of their ten games played at Moore Field House. However, their 3-7 away record shows they have yet to find the recipe for winning on the road.
“We just got to lock in and focus, said McLeod. “We’re playing a great Saint Rose team that already beat us home so we just got to kind of look back on what we did wrong and what we did right against them in the past, and bring that into the next game and hopefully come out with a win.”
Photo Courtesy: southernowls.com
