Central Connecticut rolls past Stonehill and earns top seed in NEC tournament

Jayden Brown and Allan Jeanne-Rose each had 19 points and Central Connecticut State locked up the top seed for the upcoming Northeast Conference tournament with a 79-67 win over Stonehill on Saturday.

The Blue Devils’ win combined with Merrimack’s loss to Sacred Heart results in a first-place tie with CCSU earning the No. 1 seed via tiebreakers. Central will host an NEC quarterfinal game on Wednesday vs. St. Francis at 7 p.m. and would continue to host through the championship game.

Brown also had eight rebounds for the Blue Devils (19-10, 13-3 Northeast Conference). JeanneRose shot 6 of 11 from the floor, including 2 for 5 from 3-point range, and 5 for 5 from the line, and added seven rebounds. Jordan Jones had 12 points and was 5 of 9 shooting (2 for 4 from 3-point range).

Sacred Heart 89, Merrimack At Fairfield, Raheem 85: Solomon scored 26 points and the Pioneers snapped the Warriors’ 10-game winning streak.

Solomon had six rebounds for the Pioneers (16-15, 10-6 Northeast Conference). Nico Galette scored 22 points and added seven rebounds and five assists. Alex Sobel finished with 20 points. Jordan Derkack finished with 27 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals for the Warriors (19-11, 13-3).

Merrimack will be the No. 2 seed in the NEC tournament; Sacred Heart the No. 3.

Late Friday

Trinity 83, Utica 54: At Hartford, Ben Callahan-Gold scored 15 points with seven rebounds to lead host Trinity to the Division III men’s basketball tournament firstround win.

The 27-1 Bantams, ranked No. 3 in the nation and hosting the four-team regional, played Swarthmore, a 67-59 winner over Virginia Wesleyan, on later Saturday in the second round. Henry Vetter added 11 points and Will Dorion had 10 as a total of 13 Trinity players scored at least two points.

Saint Joseph 97, Geneva

83: At Ashland, Va., Jalen Samuels had 29 points and 11 rebounds to lead the University of Saint Joseph to the Division III opening-round win. The Blue Jays (25-4), competing in the regional hosted by Randolph-Macon, played the host school later on Saturday. Randolph-Macon, the No. 4 team in the nation, advanced with a 77-45 win over Baruch.

St. Joe’s led by a point at the half, but was able to open things up in the second thanks to the play of Samuels, Friedrich Feldrappe (19 points and seven rebounds) and Tyree Mitchell (15 points).

Yale 80, Dartmouth 56: At New Haven, John Poulakidas’ 16 points helped the Bulldogs remain tied for the Ivy League lead. With Princeton and Cornell also winning the three teams are atop the standings at 10-2 with two games remaining.

Poulakidas added five rebounds for the Bulldogs (19-8 overall). Matt Knowling scored 13 points while going 5 of 6 and 3 of 5 from the free throw line, and added five assists. Nick Townsend went 5 of 5 from the field to finish with 11 points.

Quinnipiac 82, Iona 64: At New Rochelle, N.Y., Alexis Reyes scored 13 points as the Bobcats won on the road. Reyes also added eight rebounds and five assists for the Quinnipiac (20-8, 12-5 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference).

The Bobcats maintain a half-game lead over 12-6 Fairfield in the MAAC standings after the Stags lost at Marist.

Women’s basketball

Baldwin Wallace 59, Trinity 54: At New Paltz, N.Y., Reilly Campell led all scorers with 30 points but it was enough as the Bantams were eliminated from the NCAA Division III tournament in the opener of the SUNY-New Paltz regional.

Campell was 12 of 22 from the field and added seven rebounds. Theresa Twardosky added 12 points for Trinity (19-8), which led 51-48 with 2:18 to go but could not hold on as the Yellow Jackets were able to convert 6 of 8 from the free throw line to rally and close the game out.