MANCHESTER, N.H. – Freshman Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) dropped a career-high 32 points, but the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team suffered a 65-64 defeat against Bentley University after its rally in the final minute came up short Sunday afternoon at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
The Hawks fall to 2-4 on the season, including 0-3 in Northeast-10 play, while the Falcons improve to 5-1, 2-1.
Mabrey, who netted 16 in each half, was 11-for-19 from the field, including 4-for-7 from deep, and a perfect 6-for-6 at the line. Mabrey also pulled down six rebounds and handed out an assist in 36 minutes.
Trailing 65-61 with 21 seconds left, Mabrey knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key to slice the Saint Anselm deficit to just a point. After Bentley missed the front end of its 1-and-1 with 19 ticks on the clock, the Hawks grabbed the rebound and pushed the ball over halfcourt before head coach Keith Dickson called for a timeout with 14 seconds remaining.
Mabrey drove to the hoop, but his layup with five seconds left came up short. Senior Jack Keough (Owego, N.Y.) grabbed the rebound, but his putback was off the mark and chased down in the corner by sophomore Dino Mallios (Winthrop, Mass.). Mallios hit sophomore John Nielsen (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) on the elbow, but his last-second jumper hit the front rim and Bentley escaped with the one-point victory.
Keough recorded 12 points, nine boards and two assists, while Nielsen netted nine points on 3 of 6 shooting from deep.
After a basket by Keough staked the Hawks to a 2-0 lead 2:34 into the contest, six straight points from Mabrey gave Saint Anselm an 8-2 advantage. The Hawks still led by six, 13-7, with 12:52 remaining in the opening half when a 12-0 Bentley run put the visitors on top, 19-13, midway through the stanza.
The Hawks answered with baskets from Mabrey and Keough before Keough sank one of two at the line to slice the deficit to 19-18 at the 7:56 mark. Saint Anselm trailed by four, 30-26, with 2:22 to play before sophomore Dominic Borelli (Westbrook, Maine) scored the final five points of the half to give the Hawks a 31-30 halftime lead.
Borelli recorded seven points and nine boards off the bench.
After a Mabrey layup gave the Hawks a two-point edge with 14:23 remaining, the Falcons answered with a 9-0 run that gave them a 49-42 lead at the 11:45 mark. The lead grew to nine at 55-46 with 6:50 on the clock and was still eight at 61-53 when Nielsen drained his third trey of the afternoon to slice it to five with 3:19 left. Mabrey would twice cut it to a pair with two free throws before Bentley pushed the lead back to four. The second time, Mabrey answered with his 3 that cut it to one, but the Falcons would hold on.
Bentley outshot Saint Anselm, 42.2 percent (27-64) to 32.4 percent (22-68), including 40 percent (10-25) to 31.8 percent (7-22) from long range. The Hawks held a 45-39 advantage on the glass and turned the ball over 14 times, while forcing 16 Falcon turnovers.
Sam Leclerc led Bentley with 19 points on 8 of 14 shooting, including 3 of 6 from 3-point land.
The Hawks return to action Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. when they play host to Merrimack College at Stoutenburgh.
