Pleasantville, N.Y. (February 2) -- Led by 12 three-pointers, including seven in the second half alone, the Saint Anselm men's basketball team came away with the 81-69 victory over Pace on Saturday afternoon at the Goldstein Athletic Center.

In the first half, the Hawks used a trio of early three-pointers, including two from senior Chris Vetrano (Andover, Mass.), to take a quick 14-1 lead with 14:29 left in the first period. After a Setter timeout, the hosts went on a 22-7 run over the next 10 minutes of the half and with 4:32 remaining, took a 23-21 lead after three free throws from Gibraltar White (Gautier, Miss.). Saint Anselm guard Junior Mitchell (Brooklyn, N.Y.) gave the Hawks the lead again at 24-23, a lead that would sit at 32-25 at the halftime break. The seven-point edge was due largely to six straight points from Greg Vetrano (Andover, Mass.) to end the period, including a three-pointer a three-point play created off a turnover on the defensive end. Mitchell led the Hawks with seven points in the opening period, while White and Ryan Williams (Centreville, Va.) had eight points for Pace in the half. Giovanni Carenza (East Hanover, N.J.), making his first start for Saint Anselm since January 16th, finished with six points and seven rebounds in the opening period.

Saint Anselm came out on fire in the second half with a 13-3 run over the first 3:30 of the period to blow the game open at 45-28. After Pace cut the lead to 45-33, the Hawks answered with a 9-2 spurt and led 56-35 with 13:11 left. Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.) knocked down two of the team's three trifectas in the run. The Setters again cut the lead down to 17 with 9:33 on the clock, but another Chris Vetrano three-pointer pushed the advantage back to 20 with under nine minutes left.

With the score 64-44 with 8:48 left though, Pace used six points from Williams to key a 10-0 run over 4:21 to pull back within 10 at 64-54 with just 5:20 remaining. A Baudinet three-pointer ended the run though and the Hawks put the lead back to 15 with 2:49 left after a pair of free throws from Chris Vetrano. Pace got the lead down to 10 in the final minute of play before Saint Anselm came away with the 12-point victory.

Chris Vetrano led the Hawks with a 20-point, 11-assist, five-steal performance. Baudinet ended with 16 points, while Greg Vetrano had 12 points and Carenza had his second-straight double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Williams paced the Setters with 22, while White finished with 18. Randy Wilson (Peekskill, N.Y.) had a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double as well.

With the win, the Hawks snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 9-11 overall and 7-9 in Northeast-10 play, while Pace has now dropped two straight at home and falls to 9-11 overall and 8-7 in league play. Saint Anselm is off for the next seven days before hosting Franklin Pierce at Stoutenburgh Gym on Saturday, February 9th.