MANCHESTER, N.H. – Junior James Morse (Arundel, Maine) scored 16 points, but the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team fell to Stonehill College, 52-44, in its Northeast-10 Conference opener Wednesday night at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
The Hawks drop to 1-2 on the season and 0-1 in the conference, while the Skyhawks improve to 1-0, 1-0.
Morse shot an efficient 7 of 8 from the floor, including 2 of 3 from behind the arc, and added two steals.
Stonehill never trailed as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first two minutes. Buckets by Morse and sophomore Allen Harris (Roslindale, Mass.) sliced it to a pair, but the Skyhawks put it back to six at 12-6 on a Raheem May-Thompson 3-pointer.
The Skyhawks led 18-13 at the 9:12 mark when a layup by sophomore Dominic Borelli (Westbrook, Maine) and a 3-pointer from classmate John Nielsen (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) knotted the game with 8:14 to play.
Stonehill would follow with a 9-0 run before a jumper from the right wing by freshman Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) and a Borelli tip-in as time expired sliced the deficit to 27-22 at the break.
Morse opened the second half with a trey that cut it to just a pair, but five straight points from the Skyhawks opened their lead to seven at 32-25 with 17:40 remaining. Stonehill still led by seven, 36-29, at the 14:37 mark when a 7-0 spurt widened its advantage to 43-29 midway through the stanza.
Harris and Nielsen baskets stopped the bleeding and cut it to 10 at 43-33 with 7:55 on the clock. The Hawks still trailed by 10, 45-35, with 4:31 left when layups by Morse and Mabrey, followed by senior Jack Keough (Owego, N.Y.) hitting 1 of 2 at the line, made it 45-40 with 2:26 to play.
Stonehill would sink four of their next six free throws, and 7 of 12 the rest of the way, to hold off the Hawks.
Harris chipped in six points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Nielsen added seven points, while Mabrey kicked in six.
Stonehill outshot Saint Anselm, 34.1 percent (15-44) to 29.7 percent (19-64) in the defensive affair. The Hawks held a 22-18 advantage in the paint, but were outrebounded, 49-31.
Brian Hamor led the Skyhawks with 16 points and six rebounds.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. when they play host to Post Univeristy.
