Photo Courtesy of Bob Blanchard
By Desmond Bernal
Senior guard Owen Chose has decided to come back to Stonehill’s men’s basketball program for a fifth year with intentions of winning a championship.
“There is too much left that I have left to accomplish. I’m trying to win a NE-10 championship; I’m trying to go to an elite eight, and I love everyone on our team,” Chose said on the decision to come back for another season.
Last season, Chose and the men’s basketball season had a strong season finishing 13-6 in the conference and 18-11 overall. The team made a run in the NE-10 Tournament, and Chose had two big games of his career at Stonehill during the tournament.
Chose’s first game came in the NE-10 quarterfinals against Southern Connecticut State University, where he led the Skyhawks, matching his season-high with 24 points and helped secure a win at home. Chose in that game shot 88 percent on 8-of-9 from the field and did not miss a free throw going 4-for-4 at the line. He was efficient from beyond the arc as well, shooting 80 percent from three.
Then three days after the quarterfinal win, Chose had another exceptional game matching his career-high, scoring 28 points against New Haven in the semifinals. Chose had some crucial moments, one coming in the second overtime when he hit a big three-pointer to take a two-point lead with two minutes remaining.
Chose said that it is the big moments and opportunities that reveal that type of player you are, and he showed he could come through.
“I always felt I have been the type of player that tries to embrace those moments,” Chose said on his two big games in the playoffs. “It is playoff time; it is either win or go home, so I am going to leave my all out on the floor, and I know my teammates are going to do the same.”
The game would go to triple overtime on the play from Brandon Twitty inbounding the ball with .2 seconds left on the game clock, throwing the ball to the backside of the basket, and Andrew Sims miraculously tipping the ball in before the buzzer. The Skyhawks would later lose by one in triple overtime against New Haven in a final score of 101-100 and miss out on their run to make it back to the NE-10 finals since the 2011-2012 season. However, Coach Kraus later called the game “one of the best NE-10 games in a while” in an interview with Stonehill Athletics.
According to Stonehill Athletics, the men’s basketball team earned themselves a bid into the NCAA Division II Tournament, which was the team’s first time in four years. However, due to COVID, the NCAA canceled all men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, and Chose’s junior season was over.
The NE-10 semifinal game would be the last time he would play on the hardwood since the NE-10 canceled all winter sports back in December 2020. After much thought, Chose decided about a month ago that he would use his eligibility year and come back next season, he said in an interview.
“I couldn’t stomach it leaving and going to start my professional career without at least giving it a shot with the dudes in the locker room now,” Chose said.
When the season rolls around, Chose and the men’s basketball team will look to make another run for the NE-10 Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.
Currently, Chose is only 18 points off, joining the 1,000 point club, which would make him the program’s forty-second 1,000 point scorer. Two of his former teammates Will Morton, and Brandon Twitty, are currently ranked fourth and twenty-third in the program’s history, according to Stonehill’s Sports Information Director, Doug Monson.
Chose said he knows he’s close and has some things he wants to finish along with chasing Morton’s and Twitty’s records.
“I am trying to get as high on that [1,000 points] list as I can; I am trying to catch Will and Twitty; someone has to have some bragging rights, so why not me,” Chose said.
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