Easton, Mass. (January
8) - Saint Anselm couldn't hold off a second-half charge
by Stonehill as the Hawks dropped a 65-53 final to the Skyhawks in
a battle for first place in the Northeast-10 at Merkert Gym.
The two teams started with a quick scoring pace as the Skyhawks
pushed to an early 10-5 edge with 16:59 on the clock after a
three-pointer from Mike Kernan (Medford, N.J.).
With the score then 14-7, Saint Anselm went on a 7-0 spurt over a
two-minute, 32-second stretch, to tie the game at 14 with 12:12
left in the opening period. That run was capped off by a
three-pointer from sophomore John Tello (Ridgefield Park,
N.J.). Neither team held more than a four-point lead for
the rest of the half as the game was tied on three more occasions.
It was the Hawks that took the 28-26 halftime lead though as
Greg Vetrano (Andover, Mass.) nailed a jumper with
1:18 left for his second basket of the half. Pat Luptowski
(Keene, N.H.) put up eight points in the first half, while
Branimir Zeko (Mississauga, Ontario) added seven
points. Randall Stallworth (Toms River, N.J.) led
the hosts with eight points, along with seven by Kernan.
Two baskets by Tello to open the second half gave the Hawks
their largest lead of the game at 32-26 just 1:17 into the period.
Stonehill answered though with an 11-2 burst and after a dunk from
Matt Hall (Springfield, Mass.), it was Stonehill
in front by a 37-34 margin with 15:08 remaining.
After the second three-pointer of the game by Vetrano with 9:10
left pulled Saint Anselm within 45-42, a three from Kernan and a
deep three from the right corner by Hall made it a 51-42 Skyhawk
lead with 8:04 remaining in the game. The score was a seven-point
edge with 2:02 left at 58-51 after a Zeko putback, but the Skyhawks
scored a number of second-chance baskets in the final minutes for
the win. Stonehill also hit a number of free throws to put the game
out of reach.
Vetrano led the Hawks with 12 points, while Zeko finished with
11 points. Stallworth led all scorers with 19 points for Stonehill,
while Kernan and Hall each had 12.
With the loss, the Hawks see their seven-game winning streak
come to an end as the team drops to 10-2 overall and 6-2 in the
Northeast-10. Stonehill improves to 11-2 overall and is also 6-2 in
league play as the two teams are now tied for first place in the
league. Saint Anselm is back in action on Saturday afternoon as the
Hawks travel to Bentley for a 3:30 p.m. start at the Dana Center in
Waltham, Mass.
