Hamden's Deshawn Murphy Contributes to SCSU's Season-Opening Victory (Video)

From SCSU Athletics

The Southern Connecticut State men’s basketball team opened the 2014-15 season with a 104-88 victory over Dowling in a neutral site matchup hosted by the University of Bridgeport.

Senior Luke Houston (Pearl River, N.Y.) led the Owls with 32 points, while junior Desmond Williams (Torrington, Conn.) added a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Senior Tylon Smith(Manchester, Conn.) totaled 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists; sophomore Michael Mallory (Waterbury, Conn.) was second on the team with 24 points and junior Deshawn Murphy (Hamden, Conn.) chipped in 13 points. Darien Davis led the Golden Lions with 32 points in the defeat.

Houston sank the first of his five 3-pointers on the day off a fast-break just over two minutes into the game to give Southern its first lead of the afternoon at 5-4 – a lead that the Owls never relinquished. A pair of free throws from the Golden Lions got them back with three at 11-8 with 14:43 to go in the opening half, but the Owls upped the pressure with a 13-3 run over the next four minutes to push the lead to 24-11. The run saw a pair of 3-pointers from Williams and one from Mallory.

The Golden Lions made a push late in the half as Armand Correa, Davis and Miking Richardson turned in fast-break points to cut Owls lead down to just three at 45-42 with 32 seconds remaining in the half. In the final seconds, a pair of free throws by Smith got the Owls up to a halftime lead of 47-42.

The Owls stormed out of the gate in the second half and got the lead up to 11 in the first five minutes as Murphy, Williams, Mallory and Houston all sank 3s. Houston, who was 5-for-8 from beyond the arch, sank another from 3-point range with 12:56 remaining to up the lead to 68-50.

Midway through the half, Mallory ran off seven straight points with a jumper, a free throw and a 3-pointer to give the Owls their largest advantage of the game, a 19-point, 76-57 lead.

Dowling got no closer than 11 from that point on as Southern cracked the century mark with a Williams layup with 2:07 on the clock. A Williams layup, along with a pair of free throws from each squad brought the score to its final of 104-88.

The Owls return to action on Sunday night when they travel to take on Bridgeport. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. from Hubbell Gymnasium.