Springfield, Mass. (January 19) -- Saint Anselm rallied in the second half to come away with a 73-69 road win over American International on Saturday afternoon at Butova Gym.

In the first half, neither team led by more than six points and both teams shot under 30 percent from the field. Saint Anselm jumped out to a six-point lead at 12-6 following a three-pointer from Junior Mitchell (Brooklyn, N.Y.) before an 8-0 run gave the Yellow Jackets the lead yet again at 14-12 with 9:52 remaining. Over the final minutes of the period, AIC built the lead to five points on two occasions before Saint Anselm briefly regained the lead at 27-26 with 1:44 left after a three-point play from freshman Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.). The Yellow Jackets scored the last five points of the half and took a 31-27 lead into the break. John Tello (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) and Lewis Thompson (Wall, N.J.) led the Hawks with seven points each, while Aikeem Vanderhorst (Bay Shore, N.Y.) paced the Yellow Jackets with nine points in the period.

Saint Anselm battled in the early minutes of the second half and took the lead at 36-34 following a Tello three-pointer. After the Yellow Jackets went ahead 37-34 on a three-pointer of their own, the Hawks answered with a 9-0 run over the next 3:03, capped by another Tello basket that forced a Yellow Jacket timeout. The Hawks pushed the lead to as many as nine points at 48-39 with 11:52 left after a three from Chris Vetrano (Andover, Mass.) before the Yellow Jackets put together a 12-4 spurt and closed to within one at 52-51 with 8:12 left. AIC had a chance to tie the game with a three-point play, but a Vanderhorst missed free throw helped the Hawks keep the edge.

AIC regained the edge again at 55-54 before a trifecta from Jeff Dickson (Bedford, N.H.) and a pair of Vetrano free throws pushed the lead back to four at 59-55 with 5:17 remaining. AIC's Colson Senat (Montreal, P.Q.) trimmed the lead down to 59-58 with 4:42 left and the Yellow Jackets called another timeout. Vanderhorst had a chance to give AIC the lead again, but missed two free throws. The Hawks took advantage and after a three-pointer in the corner from Baudinet and another pair of Vetrano free throws, the lead went to 66-60 with 39.6 seconds left. AIC battled back though as Senat forced a Hawk turnover and converted a three-point play with 25 ticks left for the three-point Saint Anselm lead at 66-63. The Yellow Jackets pulled within two points at 69-67 with 7.3 seconds left and again at 71-69 with 3.1 left, but the Hawks held on for the win as Vetrano sealed the game with two free throws with 2.1 seconds remaining.

Tello led the Hawks with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Vanderhorst had 17 for AIC, along with a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double by Senat.

With the win, the Hawks improve to 8-8 overall and are also back to .500 in league play with a 6-6 mark. AIC has now lost three straight and sits at 7-10 overall and 4-8 in the Northeast-10. Saint Anselm is back in action on Tuesday night as Merrimack visits Stoutenburgh Gym for a 7:30 p.m. start in Manchester, N.H.