BLOOMFIELD, N.J. – Senior Jack Keough (Owego, N.Y.) scored a game-high 18 points, but the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team suffered a 70-62 defeat in its final game of 2011 against Bloomfield College on Friday afternoon at Bloomfield Gym.
The Hawks fall to 2-8 on the season, while the Deacons improve to 9-5.
Keough shot 6 of 13 from the field and 6 of 7 at the line, while tallying seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Classmate Hakeem Williams (Spring Valley, N.Y.) continued his torrid stretch as he extended his career-best double-digit scoring streak to four games with 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting. Freshman Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) was the other Hawk in double figures with 13 points to go along with six boards and a pair of steals.
Bloomfield moved out to a 7-2 lead early and still led by five, 16-11, at the 10:33 mark of the opening half. Consecutive layups by Keough and Mabrey sliced the Saint Anselm deficit to just one with 9:15 to play. The Hawks still trailed by just one at 18-17 with 5:38 remaining when seven straight points, including five from Terry Hicks, opened up an eight-point lead for the Deacons.
The lead was nine with a minute to go before baskets by Keough and Williams sent Saint Anselm into the locker room trailing 33-28.
A 3-pointer from sophomore Allen Harris (Roslindale, Mass.) just 19 seconds into the second half pulled the Hawks within two, but four straight points ran the Bloomfield lead back up to six.
Sophomore Dominic Borelli (Westbrook, Maine) cut the deficit to three at 44-41 with a layup at the 13:58 mark, but a 7-0 run – with four points from Ahmad Harris and three from Marvin Williams – pushed the Bloomfield advantage to 10 at 51-41 with 11:10 to play.
Saint Anselm answered with an 11-0 run that gave it a lead for the first time in the game at 52-51 with 7:44 left. Keough netted six points during the stretch, while Mabrey added five.
Matt Wafula stopped the bleeding with a jumper that gave Bloomfield the lead for the good at 53-52 with 7:26 to go. The Deacons followed with six consecutive points to complete the 8-0 run and make it 59-52 with 5:10 on the clock.
The Hawks would get as close as four (64-60) with 1:03 remaining, but six straight Bloomfield points made it a 10-point game again at 70-60 before a Williams layup with two seconds left closed the scoring.
Borelli finished with six points and seven boards in 15 minutes, while Harris added five points and four rebounds.
Bloomfield outshot Saint Anselm, 37.5 percent (24-64) to 31.4 percent (22-70), held a 51-44 advantage on the glass and won the battle in the paint, 32-26.
Wafula led the Deacons with 17 points.
The Hawks return to action Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 7:30 p.m. when they ring in the New Year by playing host to the College of Saint Rose at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
