North Andover, Mass. (January 2) -- Saint Anselm saw its six-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday afternoon as the Hawks fell at Merrimack by a 94-78 final at the Volpe Center in Northeast-10 play. The Hawks drop to 9-2 overall and 5-2 in Northeast-10 Conference play.

Led by five quick points by senior All-American candidate Thomas Baudinet (Watertown, Conn.), the Hawks jumped out to a 7-2 lead just 2:43 into the game. Merrimack answered with a 10-0 run over the next 1:52 before Pat Luptowski (Keene, N.H.) nailed a jumper from the corner to cut the lead back to 12-7. Saint Anselm hung tough and eventually tied the game at 18-18 with 11:17 left on a layup from John Mariano (Naugatuck, Conn.).

Jump started by a three-pointer from Darin Mency, the Warriors answered with a 13-5 run and held its biggest lead of the game to that point at 31-23 with 5:06 left. Trailing 36-25 with 3:10 left, the Hawks put together a 7-0 run to close to within 36-32 before heading into the half trailing by a 39-34 margin. Baudinet led the Hawks with 10 points, while Aaron Strothers posted 14 for the Warriors.

Saint Anselm closed quickly to within one at 39-38 in the opening 30 seconds of the second half before a 7-2 run made it a 46-40 Warrior lead with 16:23 left. The Hawks cut the lead back down to one on two occasions before Roland Davis scored on a runner down the lane to make it a 55-52 game with 12:13 remaining. Merrimack pushed the lead back up to at least next six minutes and with 6:55 left, held a 72-65 advantage. A three from Allen Harris (Roslindale, Mass.) and a Baudinet layup off a turnover quickly cut the lead down to 72-70 just 27 seconds later.

Merrimack pushed the lead back to six and after a Harris three-point play made it a 78-75 game, Wayne Mack hit a three and was fouled, completing the four-point play to make it a seven-point lead again at 82-75. Merrimack closed the game on a 12-3 run from that point on to account for the 16-point final margin.

Baudinet led the Hawks with 27 points and now sits in ninth place on the Saint Anselm all-time scoring list with 1,598 career points. Harris was the only other Hawk in double figures with 16 points. Strothers and Mack led the Warriors with 23 points each as five Merrimack players were in double figures.

Saint Anselm is back in action on Wednesday, January 5th as the Hawks host Le Moyne in a 7:30 p.m. start at Stoutenburgh Gym. That game is available online at www.SaintAnselmHawks.tv.