Albany, N.Y. -- After leading by as many as 17
points in the second half, the Saint Anselm men's basketball team
hung on for a thrilling 63-60 road victory over Saint Rose on
Tuesday night at Nolan Gym in Albany, N.Y.
Both teams were physical in the early going as the Hawks built
to a 20-13 lead with 7:51 remaining in the period as the Hawks held
the Golden Knights for a stretch of 4:13 at one point. Saint Anselm
continued to pour it on and after a three-pointer from
Giovanni Carenza (East Hanover, N.J.) and six
straight points from senior forward Lewis Thompson (Wall,
N.J.), the Hawks held their largest lead of the period at
29-16. After a Saint Rose timeout, the Golden Knights cut into the
lead slightly, but it was Saint Anselm that took a 35-26 lead into
the halftime break. Carenza and Thompson led the Hawks with 12 and
10 points, respectively. Shanty Robinson led Saint
Rose in the first half with an eight-point effort as the Golden
Knights shot just 32.4 percent from the field.
Saint Anselm continued to shoot the ball well to start the
second half as the Hawks started with a 12-6 run. The run was
capped by three-pointers from Junior Mitchell (Brooklyn,
N.Y.) and John Tello (Ridgefield Park,
N.J.) to take a 47-32 lead with 13:09 remaining. After the
Hawk lead went to 54-37 with 8:42 left, Saint Rose got seven
straight points from Will Monica and cut the lead
to 54-44 with 7:18 left. The Golden Knights ended up closing to
within five at 54-49 behind what ended up as a 12-0 run over a span
of 3:08. The run was ended by a three-pointer from freshman
Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.) and the Hawks
pushed the advantage back to 57-49 with 5:34 left.
Saint Rose answered in the form of an 11-2 run to take its
first lead since the 13:01 mark of the first half as Monica on the
second of two straight reverse layups. After Baudinet gave the
Hawks the lead back on a runner in the lane with 2:15 remaining,
the Golden Knights had a pair of opportunities to either tie or
take the lead, but couldn't convert. Saint Anselm did capitalize
though with a pair of free throws from senior
Chris Vetrano (Andover, Mass.) with 11.8 seconds
left. Those free throws were made possible after Dickson tipped the
ball away from Saint Rose's Robinson on the previous possession. A
three-pointer by Ben Johnson on the final
possession clanged off the side of the rim as the Hawks hung on for
the victory.
Carenza led the Hawks with 16 points as three Hawks finished in
double figures. Monica finished with a game-high 22 points for the
Golden Knights, including four three-pointers.
With the victory, the Hawks snap Saint Rose's six-game home
winning streak and improve to 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the
Northeast-10, while the Golden Knights fall to 10-4 overall and 7-2
in the league. Saint Anselm is back in action on Thursday night as
the Hawks travel to crosstown rival Southern New Hampshire for a
7:30 p.m. start at the SNHU Fieldhouse.
