Colchester, Vt. (February 24) -- Led by three players in double figures, the Saint Anselm men's basketball team pulled away in the second half for an 80-68 road win over Saint Michael's in the regular-season finale to clinch the No. 5 seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 Tournament.

After a 35-30 Saint Anselm lead at the half, the Hawks quickly pushed the lead into double figures at the 17:23 mark on a three-point play by senior guard Greg Vetrano (Andover, Mass.). Those were three of his game-high 23 points as he now has 998 points for his career at Saint Anselm. Junior Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.) made it a 21-point lead with 5:22 before the Purple Knights ended the game on a 13-4 run as the Hawks still came away with the 12-point win.

Vetrano tallied 23 points and now sits just two points shy of the 1,000-point mark. If he reaches the mark, Vetrano will join his brother, Chris Vetrano '08, in the 1,000-point club and become the first brother duo to reach the 1,000-point mark in Saint Anselm history.

Baudinet also finished with 19 points, along with 15 points from senior Branimir Zeko (Mississauga, Ontario). Baudinet now has 1,277 career points, tying him for 19th all-time on the Saint Anselm career scoring list.

Travis Warech led Saint Michael's with 17 points, along with a 13-point effort from Nate Birr.

With the win, Saint Anselm improves to 18-9 and 14-8 in the Northeast-10, while the Purple Knights end the season at 9-17 overall and 5-17 in league play. The Hawks advance to the Northeast-10 Tournament and will host a game for the first time since the 2006 Northeast-10 Tournament on Saturday as the team host No. 12 seed Pace University. Game time is set for 4 p.m. at Stoutenburgh Gym and will be available online at athletics.anselm.edu.