Syracuse, N.Y. (January 6) -- Down 14 points
late in the second half, Saint Anselm rallied to make it a
two-point game in the final seconds before dropping an 83-79 final
to Le Moyne on Wednesday evening at Ted Grant Court. The win is the
sixth straight for the Dolphins in the all-time series.
After the Dolphins took a 35-28 lead into the halftime break,
the hosts continued to dominate play in the second half and
with 7:01 left, Le Moyne led 67-53 after a three-pointer from
Kevin Hassett. A 13-4 run though, capped by a
three-pointer from junior Thomas Baudinet (Watertown,
Conn.), make it a 71-66 game with 2:15 remaining. After
the Dolphins pushed the lead back to nine, the Hawks made it a
seven-point game again after a layup from Quinn Woodhouse
(Gaylord, Mich.) with 1:10 on the clock.
Trailing by seven, Saint Anselm found Pat Luptowski
(Keene, N.H.) in the corner off and inbounds play with
45.3 seconds left for a three and it was 77-73 in favor of Le
Moyne. After a Dolphin free throw, the Hawks continued to cut into
the lead and Greg Vetrano (Andover, Mass.) hit a
layup for a 78-75 deficit with 21 seconds remaining.
After a pair of Kevin Roth free throws to
extend the margin to 80-75, the Hawks and Baudinet converted a
three-point play with 7.6 seconds left and an 80-78 deficit.
Chris Johnson made one free throw with under eight
left for an 81-78 score and Baudinet was then fouled just beyond
the three-point arc to go to the line for one-and-one with 2.9
left. He hit the first and missed the second before
Laurence Ekperigin pulled down the board and hit
the clinching free throws for the four-point win.
Baudinet led four Hawks in double figures with 26 points, along
with 17 points from Vetrano, 13 from Luptowski and 10 from
sophomore Jack Keough (Owego, N.Y.). Ekperigin led
everyone with 34 points, 17 rebounds and five blocks.
Saint Anselm drops to 7-6 overall and 3-6 in the Northeast-10,
while the Dolphins are 8-5 and 4-4 in the league. The Hawks return
to action on Saturday, hosting Adelphi for a 3:30 p.m. start.
