Philadelphia, Pa. (November 15) -- Led by a
27-point performance by junior co-captain Thomas Baudinet
(Watertown, Conn.), the Saint Anselm men's basketball team
opened the 2009-2010 season with a dominating 95-78 win over Holy
Family in non-conference action. The 95 points marks the highest
season-opening point total since the Hawks scored 111 in the
1992-93 season opener.
Saint Anselm never trailed in the game and got things started on
the first shot of the game, a jumper by freshman Quinn
Woodhouse (Gaylord, Mich.) for an early 2-0 lead.
Woodhouse got the start in his first career appearance, finishing
with 16 points and nine rebounds to go along with four assists on
8-for-11 shooting in 28 minutes.
The Hawks pushed the lead to double digits just over five
minutes into the period after a pair of free throws by sophomore
Hakeem Williams (Spring Valley, N.Y.). After the
lead went down to just six points, Saint Anselm answered with an
18-3 run to make it a 38-17 game with 8:13 left in the opening
half. The Hawks maintained the double-digit lead for the remainder
of the half and took a 59-44 advantage into the break after a
Baudinet three-pointer in the final seconds.
In the opening seven minutes of the second half, the Tigers used
six straight points by Justin Swidowski to cut the
advantage down to 69-61 with 13:09 left in the contest. The Saint
Anselm defense held the Tigers to just three points in the next six
minutes though to push the lead back to 80-64 with 7:22 on the
clock. Holy Family never got closer than 13 the rest of the way as
Saint Anselm won its season-opening game for the sixth straight
season.
Baudinet finished with 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including
4-of-6 from three-point land. In addition to the 16-point showing
by Woodhouse, the Hawks also had double-digit efforts from seniors
Greg Vetrano (Andover, Mass.) and Branimir
Zeko (Mississauga, Ontario). Vetrano had 14 points, six
assists and four steals, while Zeko had 12 points and six rebounds
on 6-for-9 shooting from the field.
For Holy Family, Swidowski had a 36-point, 12-rebound
double-double, while Kahlil Mumford had 26 points
and seven assists. The Hawks held the rest of the Tigers to just 16
points, including 5-for-16 shooting from the field.
Saint Anselm is now 1-0 overall, while Holy Family falls to 0-1.
The Hawks open their Northeast-10 season on Wednesday night,
traveling to the SNHU Fieldhouse to take on Southern N.H. for a
7:30 p.m. start.
