Manchester, N.H. (February 16) - On Monday night, the Saint Anselm men's basketball team clinched a Northeast-10 Tournament berth with an 83-70 victory over Franklin Pierce at Stoutenburgh Gym. The win snaps a three-game losing streak for the Hawks.

Saint Anselm jumped out to a quick 8-3 lead, capped by an off-balance shot by Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.) that caused the Ravens to call a timeout to settle things. The Hawks kept the pedal down though and pushed the lead into double figures at 15-5 after a three-pointer by Greg Vetrano (Andover, Mass.) from in front of the Raven bench. After a Ravens' three-pointer, the Hawks went on a 14-7 run, including a number of threes, to push the advantage up to 14 points at 29-15 with 9:29 left in the first half.

Franklin Pierce used a quick 5-2 run to pull within 11 before a Baudinet fall away jumper made it 33-20 with six minutes remaining in the period. Back-to-back layups by Adedamola Abu (Mattapan, Mass.) cut the lead down to 37-29 with 3:01 on the clock before Baudinet answered with another three to push the lead back to double digits at 40-29. The Hawks then closed the half on an 8-0 scoring spurt to take a commanding 47-29 lead into the locker room.

The Ravens quickly cut the lead down to 52-39 just 3:22 into the second half with a 10-5 run that was helped by a three-pointer from Ashton Graham (Brampton, Ontario). A layup from John Tello (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) and a Baudinet three-pointer pushed the lead back up to 57-39 with 15:22 on the clock.

An 8-2 Raven run, capped by a three-pointer from Jeff Manchester (Gorham, Maine), got the visitors back to within 13 at 64-51. The Ravens kept up the pressure and after a three-pointer from sophomore Kinard Dozier (Dedham, Mass.), Franklin Pierce was down just 69-58 with 8:03 left. The Hawks never let the Ravens closer though as the hosts came away with the 13-point victory.

Baudinet led the Hawks with 20 points, while Branimir Zeko (Mississauga, Ontario) had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double. Tello also finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. Dozier had 20 points to lead three Ravens in double figures.

With the win, the Hawks improve to 14-11 overall and 9-11 in the Northeast-10, while the Ravens fall to 10-15 overall and 7-13 in the league.

The Hawks are back in action on Saturday afternoon as the team hosts Saint Michael's for a 3:30 p.m. start at Stoutenburgh Gym. At halftime of that game, the Saint Anselm Department of Athletics will dedicate the basketball court at Stoutenburgh Gym in honor of former men's basketball coach Al Grenert. That ceremony, along with the entire men's and women's doubleheader with the Purple Knights, will be available online at athletics.anselm.edu.