PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Sophomore Allen Harris (Roslindale, Mass.) led three Hawks in double figures as the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team recorded a 77-66 victory against Pace University on Wednesday evening at the Goldstein Fitness Center.
The Hawks extend their winning streak to a season-best four games and improve to 6-8 overall and 4-6 in Northeast-10 play. The Setters drop to 8-6, 6-4 NE-10.
Harris racked up 19 points as he shot 4 of 11 from the field and 11 of 12 at the line. Harris also recorded three rebounds, two assists and four steals. Sophomore Dino Mallios (Winthrop, Mass.) scored a career-high 18 on 5 of 10 shooting from the floor, including a perfect 3 of 3 from deep, and 5 of 5 shooting from the stripe. The three treys marked a career best for Mallios, who also matched a career high with six rebounds and tallied three assists and two steals. Senior Jack Keough (Owego, N.Y.) netted 17 on 7 of 8 shooting overall and 3 of 3 shooting at the line to go along with a game-high eight rebounds.
As a team, Saint Anselm made 23 of its 24 free throws. The .958 shooting percentage at the stripe matches the third highest in program history. The Hawks were also 23-for-24 against Assumption College on Jan. 15, 2000.
After consecutive layups by Keough to start the game, freshman Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) drilled a 3-pointer to give the Hawks a 7-0 lead just 2:48 in. After Denzel Primus-Devonish broke the ice with a trey, another Keough layup made it 9-3. A Primus-Devonish layup, followed by a pair of Delroy Daley baskets, knotted the game at nine before senior Hakeem Williams (Spring Valley, N.Y.) sank a 3-pointer and sophomore Dominic Borelli (Westbrook, Maine) dropped in a layup to give Saint Anselm a 14-9 edge with 10:46 remaining.
Pace answered, however, with back-to-back 3s from Primus-Devonish to take its first lead of the night at 15-14 with 9:25 to play. The lead changed three times over the next minute and a half, including when Mallios hit a 3-pointer to give the Hawks a two-point lead. Borelli followed with a pair of free throws before Miallios hit another 3 to cap the 8-0 run that gave Saint Anselm a 24-17 lead with 6:09 to go.
Pace hit back with an 8-0 run of its own and reclaimed the lead at 25-24 with 4:40 on the clock. Harris dropped in a layup nearly a minute later to give the Hawks the lead back before making another one that opened the lead to three. Mabrey sank a pair of free throws and the Hawks led, 30-25, with 1:31 left. Primus-Devonish answered with another trey, but Harris knocked in two free throws and Mabrey made a layup with one second left that closed the scoring and sent Saint Anselm into the break with a 34-28 lead.
The Hawks kicked off the second half with a modest 6-1 run that stretched the lead to 11, but a 9-0 Pace run sliced it to just a pair at 40-38 with 15:01 remaining. A three-point play from Jonathan Merceus and a layup by Daley opened the Pace lead to three.
The lead was five at 57-52 with 8:42 on the clock when a Mallios layup sparked a 6-0 run that gave the Hawks a one-point lead with just under seven minutes to go. Merceus put Pace back in front with a layup and the lead would change three times over the next minute. Harris would give the Hawks the lead for good as his layup with 5:28 left made it 62-61 and started a 10-0 run.
Mallios followed with an old-fashioned three-point play and then knocked down another 3-pointer to cap the run after a pair of Harris free throws. Mallios and Harris would each hit their two shots at the line in the final minute and the Hawks sealed the win.
Mabrey scored nine points and pulled down two rebounds.
Pace outshot Saint Anselm, 48.1 percent (25-52) to 46.2 percent (24-52), including 57.1 percent (8-14) to 42.9 percent (6-14) from behind the arc, but the Hawks held a 32-27 advantage on the glass, a 36-34 edge in the paint and turned the ball over just 13 times, while forcing 17 Setter turnovers.
Primus-Devonish scored a game-high 21 points on 7 of 12 shooting, including 4 of 4 from deep.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, Jan. 14 at 3:30 p.m. when they play host to Assumption College at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
