Manchester, N.H. (January 2) -- Saint Anselm was unable to hold off a late Merrimack charge in the final minutes as the Warriors ended the Hawks' three-game winning streak in a 78-76 final at Stoutenburgh Gym on a snowy Saturday afternoon.

Merrimack jumped out to a 16-9 lead over the game's first 5:40 before the Hawks embarked on an 8-0 run and took a one-point lead on a jumper from Pat Luptowski (Keene, N.H.). The two teams traded the lead for the next five minutes and the Hawks held a 30-29 edge with 3:41 left after a pair of free throws by Branimir Zeko (Mississauga, Ontario). The teams traded baskets over the final minutes of the period and took a 34-33 lead into the halftime break.

Luptowski and Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.) led the Hawks with eight points each, while Aaron Strothers and Darin Mency led the Warriors with 12 and 10 points each, respectively. The Hawks held a 26-14 edge on the boards, including 17-10 on the defensive end.

The teams traded the lead eight times over the first 14 minutes of the second half and Merrimack held the 63-62 edge with 6:23 left on the clock. Over the next 3:48, the Hawks went on a 9-0 run and held their biggest lead of the game at 71-63 with 2:35 remaining. After Mency cut the lead down to five, Baudinet stretched the Hawk lead back to seven with a pair of free throws with under two minutes left. In the next 50 seconds however, it was all Mency as he hit a pair of three-pointers, along with one free throw for a four-point play, to tie the game at 73-73 with 1:01 remaining.

Greg Vetrano (Andover, Mass.) gave the Hawks a two-point edge with 57 seconds left but Mency answered with another three-pointer and a 76-75 lead. With 26 seconds left, Baudinet was fouled and hit one free throw to tie the game for the sixth time. Merrimack called timeout with 18.6 seconds left and out of the break, got the ball to Wayne Mack, who drove the left side of the free throw lane and was fouled. Mack knocked down both free throws to give the Warriors a two-point lead before a three-point attempt by the Hawks' Oliver Hunter (Bedford, N.H.) was wide at the buzzer.

Baudinet led four Hawks in double figures with 19 points, along with 16 points by Luptowski and 11 from Vetrano. Junior John Mariano (Naugatuck, Conn.) finished with 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting as the Hawks outscored the Warriors by a 25-0 margin off the bench.

Mency led the Warriors with 34 points, including seven three-pointers, while Strothers had 17 and Mack finished with 10 points.

The Hawks are now 7-5 overall and 3-4 in the Northeast-10, while Merrimack improves to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in the league. Saint Anselm is back in action on Wednesday night as the Hawks travel to Le Moyne for a 7:30 p.m. start in Syracuse, N.Y.