WALTHAM, Mass. – Trailing 17-7 at halftime, the Southern Connecticut State University football team tallied 24 consecutive points and hung on late for a 31-29 win over Bentley on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference play. The Owls led 31-17 before the Falcons connected on a pair of Hail Mary touchdown passes in the final 30 seconds to close within two points. However, the two-point try was knocked away by the Owls, securing the victory.

The Owls are now 5-2, 4-1 in Northeast-10 Conference play. Bentley dropped to 4-3, 3-2 in league action.

Senior running back Rashaad Slowley (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) added three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving) for the Owls to boost his season total to 22. He finished with 102 yards on the ground and added four catches for 73 yards. Quarterback Kevin Lynch was 18-of-28 for 244 yards for the game, but finished 13-of-18 for 188 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. Willie Epps (Norwalk, Conn.), Andre Privott (Middletown, Conn.) and Jayson Holt (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) all added three catches, with Epps also hauling in a touchdown that gave the Owls the lead for good.
Down by 10 to start the second half, the Owls took the opening kickoff and quickly marched 73 yards in just seven plays, spanning 2:29. Lynch hit Slowley on a 28-yard touchdown pass, and Christopher Hazelton (Bristol, Conn.) added the PAT to make it 17-14.

Southern Connecticut went ahead for good just 74 seconds into the fourth quarter when Lynch hit Epps on a 46 yard touchdown pass to make it 21-17 after the PAT.

Later in the quarter, Slowley punched in a two-yard run to extend the lead to 28-17 with 9:39 remaining. Hazelton would go on to add a 39-yard field goal to push the score to 31-17 with 2:17 remaining.

Bentley's Bryant Johnson then tried to engineer a stunning comeback, but it fell short. He hit Jeff Hill on a 37-yard Hail Mary with 29 seconds left, and then, after recovering an onside kick, found Hill again from 39 yards out to close within two with five seconds left. However, the Falcons would get no closer.
Bentley actually jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the game late in the first quarter. The Owls got on the board when Slowley scored on a one-yard run midway through the second quarter. However, the Falcons used a fake field goal that resulted in a touchdown pass to take a 17-7 lead at the break.

Southern Connecticut returns to action next Saturday when it faces AIC.