Manchester, N.H. (January 10) -- Trailing by 17 points in the second half, Saint Anselm rallied to within three in the final minutes before dropping the 85-81 final to Southern New Hampshire on Thursday night in Northeast-10 play at the SNHU Fieldhouse.

In the first half, Saint Anselm briefly held the lead at 6-4 with 15:21 remaining after a layup from Jeff Dickson (Bedford, N.H.). A 17-5 Southern New Hampshire run though, capped by a three-pointer from Fotis Lioutas (Thessaloniki, Greece), gave the Penmen their biggest lead of the half at 21-11 with 9:12 remaining. Saint Anselm fought back though and after consecutive three-pointers from John Tello (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) and Chris Vetrano (Andover, Mass.), the Hawks were back within three at 25-22. Saint Anselm got as close at one at 27-26 with 4:02 left before the Penmen went into the halftime break with a 36-33 advantage. Chris Vetrano led the Hawks with seven points in the first half, while Troy Bowen (Nashua, N.H.) led all scorers with a 17-point outburst in the opening period.

Just over a minute into the second half, Chris Vetrano tied the game for the first time since the 14:37 mark of the first half with a three-pointer to knot the game at 36-36. The Hawks took their first lead since the score was 6-4 on a baseline jumper from Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.) as the Hawks held the 40-38 edge. After an SHNH free throw, the Hawk lead went to 42-39 on a hook shot by Lewis Thompson (Wall, N.J.) before the Penmen put together a rally. That rally came in the form of a 7-2 run, highlighted by five points from Bowen, to give the hosts the lead again at 46-42.

With the game sitting at 55-50 in favor of the Penmen with 10:02 left, SNHU seemingly put the game away with a 12-0 run for the 67-50 lead with 6:18 remaining, the biggest lead of the night for the Penmen. Trailing 75-62 with 3:41 left, the Hawks had other plans though as the team put together a 10-2 run, capped by four points from Tello, to pull within 77-72 and force SNHU to call a timeout. After the two teams traded baskets, the Hawks got within three at 79-76 on a coast-to-coast layup from Vetrano, who was then called for a technical foul following the play. SNHU's Chase Miller (Fairfax, Va.) made the two free throws and pushed the lead back to 81-76 with 38.6 seconds left. The Penmen knocked down four more free throws in the final moments to hold on for the victory as the Hawk rally fell just short.

Vetrano led the Hawks with 21 points and seven assists, while Dickson also ended up with seven assists. Baudinet and Tello also finished with 15 points each, along with 12 for Thompson. Bowen led everyone with 28 points and was joined in double figures with an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double from Cory Vejraska (Alachua, Fla.). Miller also finished with 13 points, while Carey sparked the Penmen with 12 points.

With the loss, the Hawks fall to 6-7 overall and 4-5 in Northeast-10 play, while the Penmen improve to 6-7 overall and 3-6 in the Northeast-10. Saint Anselm is back in action on Saturday afternoon as the Hawks travel to Saint Michael's for a 3:30 p.m. start in Colchester, Vt.