New Haven, Conn. (November 25) -- Saint Anselm held off a second-half New Haven charge to come away with a 72-65 victory on Tuesday night at Charger Gym. The meeting was the first for the Hawks and the Chargers since New Haven joined the Northeast-10 Conference this season.

New Haven jumped out to an early double-digit lead at 12-2 with 13:38 left following a three-pointer by Darryl Greene (Clinton, Md.). The Hawks responded with a 17-6 run over the next seven minutes and after a jumper by Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.), Saint Anselm held its first lead of the game at 19-18 with 6:44 left. The lead changed hands four times in the final minutes and the two teams went into the halftime break tied up at 28-28.

After the Chargers scored the first hoop of the second half, the Hawks quickly regained the lead and pushed it to four at 39-35 with 13:20 left on a three-pointer from Baudinet at the top of the key. New Haven took the lead back 1:21 later on a three-point play by Greene as he was fouled on his way to the hoop. After the two teams traded the lead back and forth for a few minutes, the Chargers built a four-point lead of their own following a reverse layup from junior Kelvin Jackson (Upper Marlboro, Md.). That was short-lived though as Saint Anselm sophomore forward John Tello (Ridgefield Park, Md.) knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the key with 8:28 left to give the Hawks a 46-44 lead and forcing New Haven to call a timeout.

After Baudinet knocked down his second three of the game with 7:02 left to make it a five-point game, the Chargers pulled back to within two quickly and trailed just 53-51 with 5:19 remaining in the half. Pat Luptowski (Keene, N.H.) knocked down a pair of threes and the Chargers were called for a traveling violation and it was Hawks 59-55 with 3:19 left. Saint Anselm pushed the lead to as many as eight points before coming away with the seven-point win.

Baudinet and Luptowski led the Hawks with 16 points each, while junior forward Branimir Zeko (Mississauga, Ontario) was the team's leading rebounder with 13 boards to go along with 15 points. Baudinet also added 10 rebounds for the double-double.

With the win, the Hawks improve to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the league, while New Haven drops to 0-4 overall and 0-3 in the Northeast-10. Saint Anselm is back in action on Sunday, November 30 as the Hawks host American International for a 3:30 p.m. start at Stoutenburgh Gym.