MANCHESTER, N.H. – Sophomore Dino Mallios (Winthrop, Mass.) led four Hawks in double figures with 14 points, but the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team suffered an 81-65 loss against Southern New Hampshire University on Tuesday evening at the SNHU Fieldhouse.
The Hawks fall to 2-3 on the season, including 0-2 in Northeast-10 play, while the Penmen improve to 3-1, 1-1.
Mallios was 4-for-7 from the field, including 2-for-3 from behind the arc, and also converted four of his five free throw attempts. The point guard also tallied five assists and two rebounds. Senior Jack Keough (Owego, N.Y.) scored 13 points on 4 of 9 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and three steals. Sophomore Allen Harris (Roslindale, Mass.) netted 12 points, while freshman Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) hit for 11 points on 4 of 11 shooting, including 3 of 6 from deep.
The Hawks trailed 6-5 early on when layups by Harris, sandwiched around a Keough basket, put them on top, 11-6, with 15:35 remaining in the opening half. After a free throw from Elijah Bonsignore, the Hawks continued their 11-1 run with a hoop by Harris and a three-point play by sophomore Dominic Borelli (Westbrook, Maine) that made it 16-7 with 14:24 to play.
The Penmen answered with seven straight points from BJ Cardarelli to slice the lead to 16-14 at the 11:48 mark. The Hawks followed with six straight points, capped by a John Nielsen (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) trey that widened the lead to 22-14 midway through the stanza.
Trailing 23-16, SNHU went on another 7-0 run that tied the game with 5:20 left. A Mabrey 3 halted the run and after a pair of Greg DeSantis free throws, Mallios converted a three-point play that put the visitors in front, 29-25, with 3:38 to play. Bonsignore answered with a 3-pointer and a jumper that gave the Penmen a 30-29 advantage with just under three minutes left.
A pair of Keough free throws and a Mallios trey widened the gap to four at 34-30 with 2:01 left. Still leading by four with 35 seconds left, the Hawks went up six when Mabrey closed the scoring with a layup and sent his team into the locker room leading, 41-35.
The Penmen opened the second half with another 7-0 spurt that gave them a 42-41 lead with 17:14 remaining. After layups by James Morse (Arundel, Maine) and Harris put the Hawks up three, Cardarelli came back with four straight that put SNHU back up by one, 46-45, with 15:15 to go.
The lead would change three times over the next three possessions before Harris' basket with 13:24 left put Saint Anselm up, 51-48. The Penmen answered once again, however, with an 8-0 run that gave them a 56-51 lead with 10:46 to go. Josh Morgan-Green sank a 3 with 11:23 on the clock to make it 54-51 and SNHU would never trail again.
Still trailing by five, 61-56, with 7:33 on the clock, the Hawks would slice it to one when Keough hit layups on back-to-back possessions. The Penmen would answer with a knockout blow, however, going on a 14-1 run that was part of a larger 20-5 stretch that finished off the game. Cardarelli sank four free throws to close the scoring and give SNHU its largest lead of the night.
The Hawks turned the ball over 14 times, while forcing 18 Penmen turnovers, but SNHU outshot Saint Anselm, 51.9 percent (27-52) to 39.3 percent (24-61), including 47.4 percent (9-19) to 41.2 percent (7-17) from long range, and won the battle on the glass, 41-28.
Cardarelli led SNHU with a game-high 24 points and eight rebounds.
The Hawks return to action Sunday, Nov. 27 at 3:30 p.m. when they play host to Bentley University at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
