Manchester, N.H. (November 18) -- In the 50th all-time meeting between the two schools, Southern New Hampshire used a 15-2 run to open the second half to help pull out a 62-51 win over Saint Anselm in the Northeast-10 Conference opener for both teams. The Hawks cut the lead down to seven several times in the final minutes before dropping the 11-point final.

In the opening minutes, the Hawks trailed by a 7-3 margin before pulling to within one at 9-8 after a putback from freshman Quinn Woodhouse (Gaylord, Mich.). After a 9-0 Penmen run forced Saint Anselm to call a timeout, the Hawks clawed back into and trailed just 17-15 with 7:54 left in the half after a corner three-pointer by junior Pat Luptowski (Keene, N.H.). Southern New Hampshire closed the opening half on an 11-6 run though, led by nine first-half points from freshman Corey Boland (Union, N.J.). Saint Anselm trailed just 28-21 at the half despite shooting just 34.6 percent from the field and leading scorer Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.) being held off the scoreboard. Hakeem Williams (Spring Valley, N.Y.) was the top scorer for the Hawks with six points in the opening half.

Southern New Hampshire started the second half strong as well, pushing the lead into double digits at 31-21 with 19:14 left on a three-point play junior Corey Vejraska (Alachua, Fla.). The Penmen continued their opening run of the second half and pushed the lead to 43-23 before the Hawks scored on a pair of free throws by Greg Vetrano (Andover, Mass.) with 13:45 left.

The Hawks were not done though as over the next 5:27, Saint Anselm cut the lead down to 45-35 behind a 12-2 run. That spurt was capped off by layups from Vetrano and Baudinet and forced a Penmen timeout with 8:18 left in the game. After the Penmen pushed the lead back to 14 points, the Hawks continued to chip away and got the lead down to seven at 56-49 with 1:07 left on a deep three from Vetrano. The lead went to seven on three more occasions before the Penmen came away with the 62-51 final.

Vetrano led Saint Anselm with 15 points, while Baudinet chipped in eight points and five rebounds. Sophomore Oliver Hunter (Bedford, N.H.) led the Hawks with seven rebounds. Four Penmen finished in double figures as Vejraska, Boland, Tory Stapleton (Rahway, N.J.) and Marcus Matthews (Valley Stream, N.Y.) all ended up with 10 points each.

The all-time series with Southern New Hampshire is now 27-23 in favor of the Penmen, while the Hawks have taken seven of the last 10 meetings. The two teams will meet again this season as the Penmen travel to Stoutenburgh Gym for a February 5th meeting.

With the loss, Saint Anselm falls to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the Northeast-10, while the Penmen are 2-0 overall and 1-0 in league play. Saint Anselm is back in action on Tuesday, November 24th as the Hawks host Bentley for a 7:30 p.m. start at Stoutenburgh Gym.