Easton, Mass. (March
13) -- In a back-and-forth game fitting of the NCAA
Tournament, fifth-seeded Saint Anselm dropped an 89-85 overtime
final to fourth-seeded Philadelphia University in the first round
of the 2010 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament.
Philadelphia jumped out to an early 11-6 lead after a pair of
free throws by Jim Connolly. The Hawks to tie the
game at 11 on a three from Thomas Baudinet (Watertown,
Conn.) and kept the game tied with two more Baudinet
threes. With the Hawks trailing 19-17, Saint Anselm answered with a
10-4 run and pushed the lead to 29-23 after a three by Greg
Vetrano (Andover, Mass.). The Hawks pushed the lead to
nine points at 36-27 with 2:21 left and went as high as 11
following another Baudinet three with 57 seconds left in the first
half. The Rams closed to a 41-32 margin at halftime as Baudinet
dropped in a game-high 22 points in the opening half to lead Saint
Anselm.
A quick 7-2 run by the Rams in the second half cut the lead back
down to four at 43-39 following a three from Marcus
Lemon. Saint Anselm stretched the lead back up to seven
before the Rams made it a 48-45 score following two free throws by
Russell Frederick. Philadelphia tied the game for
the first time since the opening half on a three from Connolly and
took a six-point lead at 62-56 on back-to-back threes from
Connolly. After the lead went to a game-high eight for the Rams,
Saint Anselm answered with an 8-0 run over the next 1:22 behind
three-pointers from Baudinet and Vetrano to tie the game at 64 with
7:43 remaining.
Frederick gave the Rams the lead back at 67-64 before Saint
Anselm put up another 8-0 run to regain control at 72-67 with 4:37
left in the half. Frederick scored consecutive hoops for
Philadelphia and made it 72-71 Hawk lead heading into the final
media timeout of the period. Branimir Zeko (Mississauga,
Ontario) scored on a putback of a missed free throw by
Ollie Hunter (Bedford, N.H.) with 2:45 left, but
Connolly tied the game again with 1:55 left on a three-pointer from
the elbow. Both teams had chances to score in the final minutes,
with the best chance coming on a Lemon three-point attempt that
went long from the baseline at the buzzer to end regulation.
The two teams traded the lead in the first four minutes of
overtime and Saint Anselm held an 81-79 lead with 1:15 left after
an off-balance layup by Vetrano. The Rams answered back though as
Frederick drove the lane and was fouled, converting the three-point
play with 44.2 seconds left for an 82-81 lead. Vetrano gave the
lead back to the Hawks with a pair of free throws with 29.5 left,
before the Rams took the lead for good on a Connolly three off a
screen at the top of the key. Ingram hit a pair of free throws with
6.2 seconds remaining make it a four-point game. Vetrano scored on
a layup with 2.4 left to cut the margin down to 87-85, but Ingram
nailed two free throws with just 1.5 left to seal the 89-85
victory.
Vetrano ended the game with a team-high 29 points, while
Baudinet tallied 27 points and five assists while playing all 45
minutes. Vetrano ends his decorated Saint Anselm playing career
with 1,075 points and 400 assists, making him just the sixth player
in school history with at least 1,000 career points and 400 career
assists. Vetrano is 40th on the all-time scoring list and ends up
11th on the all-time assists list. Baudinet ends his junior season
with 1,339 career points, placing him 15th on the all-time scoring
list with one season to go.
For the Rams, Connolly led the team with 28 points, including
8-for-10 from three-point land, while Frederick added 26 points.
Ingram posted an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double, along with 12
points by Mike Yocum.
With the loss, Saint Anselm ends the season at 20-11 overall,
while the Rams improve to 26-7 overall. Philadelphia advances to
the regional semifinal to take on top-seeded Stonehill at 7:30 p.m.
on Sunday night.
