Sam Rowley Sinks Last-Second Shot for 64-62 Victory at New Hampshire
BOX SCORE
DURHAM, N.H.- Senior captain Sam Rowley converted on a turn-around left hook with 3.5 seconds on the clock to give University at Albany (7-7, 2-0 AE) a 64-62 win at New Hampshire (6-8, 0-2 AE) on Tuesday night. The Great Danes start 2-0 in conference play for the second straight year.
“I'm fortunate that I was the benefactor of other guys playing well,” said Rowley. “After the timeout we knew that UNH would be coming out on our shooters. Dallas [Ennema] did a great job of finding the open man and it happened to be me.”
Will Brown's squad started off hot from the field, going 6-for-10 in the opening six minutes of the contest. Five different Great Danes had scored for a 14-8 lead early on.
With a four-minute scoring drought, the Wildcats went on a 5-0 run out of the under-16 media timeout. Ray Sanders drove through the middle of the lane good for a 16-13 lead with 11 minutes to go in the first half.
Sanders sparked a 6-0 run by the Great Danes, as Dallas Ennema made two free throws and Sam Rowley made a move in the low post. Back-to-back threes from Sanders put UAlbany ahead 26-21. The junior had 11 points and five rebounds in the first 12 minutes of the game.
The Wildcats responded from the three-point line, closing the two-possession margin on several occasions but never taking the lead. Of New Hampshire's 29 first-half points, 21 were off of three-pointers.
Four free throws by Peter Hooley and a three from Evan Singletary gave UAlbany a 34-29 lead at the break.
The Wildcats started the second half with a 6-2 run to come within one, 41-40 with 15 minutes to play. But UAlbany had a response once again, as four more points from Sanders and another Singletary three erased New Hampshire's effort with a 48-40 lead.
Another three-point fueled run put New Hampshire back in position to take the lead. Daniel Dion hit a three to make the score 50-47 with 11:32 on the clock.
On the ensuing New Hampshire possession, Sanders drew an offensive foul on Tanner Leissner to give the Purple & Gold a shot at widening the gap.
Another defensive effort from Singletary gave the junior a 2-on-1 fast break. Singletary found Hooley under the basket for an and-one opportunity, good for a 53-47 Great Dane advantage.
Hooley's basket was the final field goal for UAlbany over the next seven minutes of the game. The Wildcats went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe and Dion drained another three to tie the game at 56 with 4:52 to play.
Mike Rowley bothered Leissner under the basket to force a turnover and send UAlbany the other way. New Hampshire took its first lead of the contest, 58-56 with three minutes left.
The teams went back-and-forth, as Singletary and Sam Rowley both went two-for-two from the free throw line late. New Hampshire missed with 36 seconds left, and Singletary slowed the pace of play for a final set. The junior misfired on an elbow jumper, but Mike Rowley battled for the offensive board with 3.5 seconds left. UAlbany called timeout to set up an out-of-bounds play under the basket.
New Hampshire called timeout after seeing the UAlbany formation, and the Great Danes made the necessary adjustment. Ennema inbounded to Sam Rowley on the block, and the senior made the turn-around hook with his left hand to earn the 64-62 victory.
“I thought on that last play we could get Sam [Rowley] a clean shot, it was just a matter of it we could get him the ball,” said head coach Will Brown. “We stopped defending in the second half and got lazy offensively; but every year we come up here and struggle. I thought UNH did a really good job on Sam [Rowley], and we were lucky to find him on that last play.”
Peter Hooley finished the game with a UAlbany-high 17 points. The junior is 34 points shy of 1,000 for his career. Sanders (15) and Singletary (14) joined Hooley in double digits.
Sanders had a career high 15 points and eight boards. The junior went 3-for-4 from three and 5-for-7 from the field in 29 minutes.
With four rebounds against the Wildcats, Sam Rowley is four boards away from becoming UAlbany's Division I career rebounding leader.
The Great Danes continue America East play at UMass Lowell (7-7, 1-0 AE) on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m., matinee.
