North Andover, Mass. (February 6) -- Saint Anselm held off a furious Merrimack rally in the final two minutes as the Hawks defeated the Warriors by a 64-61 final at the Volpe Center. The Hawks led by nine with 2:32 left before the Warriors cut the lead to just two in the final seconds. The win is the eighth victory in the last nine games for Saint Anselm.

In the opening half, the lead traded hands four times, with Merrimack holding an early seven-point lead and Saint Anselm leading by six with 8:51 left in the period. In a half where the two teams were a combined 17-for-60 from the field, it was Saint Anselm that took a 23-22 lead into the break behind eight points from junior Pat Luptowski (Keene, N.H.). Roland Davis (Deer Park, N.Y.) was the leading scorer for the Warriors with eight first-half points.

The second period was a completely different story as the two teams came out firing with 31 total points in the first five minutes. Merrimack took the lead on a Darin Mency (Hagerstown, Md.) basket at the 18:53 mark and stretched the lead to 38-33 on a Mency three-pointer.

With the Warriors out in front by a 43-38 margin, junior Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.) scored on a coast-to-coast layup, followed by a pair of jumpers, and the game was tied at 44-44 with 10:43 left. Saint Anselm took the lead for the first time since early in the period on a free throw by Hakeem Williams (Spring Valley, N.Y.) and stretched the lead out to 61-53 with 3:58 remaining.

With the Hawks leading 63-54 with 2:32 left, the Warriors began the comeback that was reminiscent of their earlier meeting this season. With the Warriors within 63-58, Mency knocked down a three to pull within one and had a chance to take the lead with under 15 seconds remaining. Mency's wild three-point attempt was off though and the Hawks hit a free throw in the final seconds to seal the win.

Baudinet led the Hawks with 22 points, along with 15 points, four assists and two steals by Luptowski. Mency led three Warriors in double figures with 19 points.

With the win, the Hawks sit at 15-7 overall and 11-6 in the Northeast-10, while Merrimack falls to 14-6 overall and 12-5 in the league. Saint Anselm is back in action on Tuesday night as the Hawks travel to Waltham, Mass. to take on Bentley University in a 7:30 p.m. start.