Men's Basketball Soars Past New Hampshire, 63-45, In America East Quarterfinals - UAlbany Sports 2012

West Hartford, Conn.- Gerardo Suero's 24-point, nine-rebound and four-assist performance led UAlbany over New Hampshire, 63-45, in the America East Conference Quarterfinals on Saturday, March 3 at Chase Family Arena. Along with Suero's 21st 20-plus point performance, Mike Black scored 11 points in the contest which put him at 1,000 points for his career at UAlbany. The Great Danes move on to the semifinals to face the No. 1 seed Stony Brook on Sunday, March 4 at Chase Family Arena with the tip-off set for 5:02 p.m.

Suero had a game-high 24 points and was one rebound shy of his third career double-double, shooting 8-for-24 from the floor. Black was the only other Great Dane with double-figures, 11, and added four assists and four rebounds. Blake Metcalf, Jayson Guerrier and Sam Rowley each tallied at least seven rebounds with Metcalf leading the group with nine, five of which were offensive.

New Hampshire's Patrick Konan had a team-high 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting and six rebounds. Brian Benson had a game-high 13 rebounds, seven of which were offensive and five points.

A slow start to the first half as both teams mustered up only 11 points each through the first eight minutes of play. Gerardo Suero led UAlbany with six points on 3-of-9 shooting. The Great Danes would grab a seven-point lead, 23-16, with a 12-5 run that was capped by a Mike Black layup.

New Hampshire would look to cut the deficit with consecutive baskets by Ferg Myrick but Suero would add onto the UAlbany lead with two free throws then followed by an up-and-under play by Sam Rowley to grab the game's largest lead of ten, 30-20, with 1:46 remaining in the half. Jordon Bronner would get fouled with 2.3 seconds left and would make one-of-two to end the half at a nine-point deficit, 30-21.

UAlbany would extend its lead to 17 points to open the second half, 52-35, with 7:14. Black led the Great Danes with seven points and a key steal and assist to teammate Tanner Gibson to spark 12-6 run during the 12 minute stretch.

New Hampshire would cut the deficit down to 11 with a 6-0 run , 52-41, with 4:11 remaining forcing UAlbany head coach Will Brown to call a timeout. The run was capped by a steal and layup by Ferg Myrick who finished the game with 11 points and three rebounds.

But the Great Danes would hold onto the lead for the final four minutes, going four-for-four from the free-throw line and topped the game off with a Gibson three pointer with nine seconds remaining to put the game up 18 points.

UAlbany held New Hampshire under 30.0 percent shooting from the floor (28.1%) and from three-point land (26.3%) while out rebounding UNH as well, 47-35. The Great Danes shot 36.2 percent from the floor and 42.1 percent from behind the arc.

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports