EASTON, Mass. (December 22, 2024) – Stonehill College men's basketball placed five Skyhawks in double figures en route to a 90-83 win over the University of New Hampshire Sunday afternoon at Merkert Gymnasium.
 
With the win, Stonehill matches its best start at Merkert Gymnasium since the 2019-20 season when the Skyhawks also began the season 6-0. This was also the first time this season that Stonehill had five double-digit scorers.
 
LEADERS

• Sophomore Louie Semona (Cincinnati, Ohio) led all scorers with 22 points on 9-12 shooting from the field to go with six rebounds and two assists, all off the bench.
• Junior Ethan Meuser (Shavertown, Pa.) recorded a career-high six assists to lead all passers while also tallying 10 points and a career-high eight rebounds.
• Graduate student Amir Nesbitt (Newport News, Va.) came off the bench and provided 10 points on 4-6 from three-point range.
• Junior Chas Stinson (Charlotte, N.C.) scored a season-high 16 points while dishing out five assists, blocking two shots, and nabbing three steals.
• Sami Pissis led a group of four double-digit scorers for UNH with 20 points. Giancarlo Bastianoni recorded a double-double for the Wildcats with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

FIRST HALF

• A three-pointer from Meuser and a dunk from sophomore Todd Brogna (Southborough, Mass.) put Stonehill up 5-0 but UNH responded with five straight points to tie the score 5-5.
• The two teams traded buckets until New Hampshire took its largest lead of the first half at 15-11 thanks to a layup from Jawarie Hamelin.
• Over the next three minutes, Stonehill went on a 9-1 run with Stinson converting on a pair of reverse layups to lead the way with four points to give Stonehill a 20-16 lead.
• Semona collected the loose ball on the offensive glass and made the putback to give Stonehill a five-point lead, 28-23 with over five minutes to go in the half.
• UNH cut into their deficit with a buzzer-beater three from Sami Pissis as Stonehill went into the break with a 38-37 lead.
• Nesbitt led all scorers with nine points on a trio of three-pointers, while Pissis had eight points to lead the Wildcats.

SECOND HALF

• Stonehill began the second half making five of its first seven shot attempts, outscoring UNH 11-7 as Semona led the Skyhawks with seven quick points off the bench.
• The Wildcats continued to hang around but the fourth three-pointer of the game for Nesbitt gave Stonehill a 57-50 lead with 12 minutes left in the game.
• A pair of fastbreak finishes from Semona gave the Skyhawks their largest of the game, 63-54, forcing UNH head coach Nathan Davis to call a timeout with 10:07 on the clock.
• New Hampshire responded with a 13-5 run, making five straight shots to pull back within one point, 68-67.
• Stonehill shut down the UNH offense for the next two minutes while Stinson blocked a Pissis three-point attempt before throwing down the fastbreak jam on the other end to put Stonehill back up by seven, 76-69.
• Another tough finish for Stinson in the paint, plus the foul, gave Stonehill a 79-71 lead with 3:37 left to play.

• Stinson stole an errant pass from the Wildcats and dropped a spinning pass right into the hands of graduate student Josh Morgan (Brampton, Ontario) for the fastbreak finish as Stonehill led 82-74 with under two minutes to go in the game.
• Stonehill hung onto its lead for the remainder of the game, defeating the Wildcats, 90-83, as the Skyhawks improved to 6-0 at home this season.

NOTEWORTHY

• Stonehill is now 1-1 all-time against the Wildcats and this was the first meeting between the two programs at Merkert Gymnasium.
• Stonehill improves to 6-0 at home to start the season, the best start at Merkert Gym since the Skyhawks also started with six straight wins in 2019.
• Meuser set career-highs in both rebounds (8) and assists (6), while also playing a career-high 27 minutes on Sunday.
• Today's game marks the first time the Skyhawks placed five scorers in double figures the season. All eight Skyhawks that saw the floor today scored at least five points as well.
• The starting lineup of Morgan, freshman Hermann Koffi (Quebec City, Quebec), Stinson, Brogna, and Meuser improves to 6-2 on the year as a unit.
• After another double-digit scoring effort, Semona is averaging 16.3ppg over the last five games, with 10+ in four of those contests.
• Stinson recorded his seventh straight game with 2+ steals and sixth straight with at least three. His 2.2 steals per game ranks first in the NEC.

UP NEXT

• Stonehill travels to Easton, Pa. to take on Lafayette College in the Skyhawks' final non-conference game of the season at the Kirby Sports Center at 1 p.m.

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