MANCHESTER, N.H. – Freshman Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) led four Hawks in double figures with 13 points as the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team snapped a six-game skid and earned its first conference victory of the season with a 74-64 win against the College of Saint Rose on Tuesday evening at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
The Hawks improve to 3-8 on the season, including 1-6 in Northeast-10 play, while the Golden Knights drop to 1-11, 1-7 NE-10.
Mabrey shot 3 of 7 from the field and was a perfect 6 of 6 at the stripe as he matched his career high with six rebounds, handed out four helpers and recorded two steals. Senior Jack Keough (Owego, N.Y.) tallied 12 points, five boards, three blocks, two assists and two steals while sinking all eight of his free throw opportunities. Sophomores Dino Mallios (Winthrop, Mass.) and Allen Harris (Roslindale, Mass.) both netted 11 points on 4 of 8 shooting. Mallios added six rebounds and five assists, while Harris reeled in four boards.
Trailing 4-2, Saint Rose went on a 10-2 run, with six points from Andre Pope, to grab a 12-6 lead just 5:27 into the contest. The Hawks answered back with six straight points, including a 3-pointer from Mallios that knotted the game at 12 with 12:58 remaining.
Saint Rose would go back up by four and later led by three when senior Hakeem Williams (Spring Valley, N.Y.) drained a trey that knotted the game at 20 with 8:27 on the clock and kicked off a 12-2 run. After a Kareem Thomas layup put the Golden Knights up two, Mabrey hit a triple to give Saint Anselm a 23-22 lead with 6:42 remaining.
Sophomore Dominic Borelli (Westbrook, Maine) extended the lead to three with a layup before a pair of Mabrey free throws pushed the lead to five. Borelli then closed the run with another layup that gave Saint Anselm a 29-22 lead with 3:01 to play. Saint Rose had trimmed it to five when Williams drilled another 3-pointer with 34 seconds left that sent the Hawks into the locker room with a 34-26 lead.
Saint Anselm started the second half with a layup from Mallios and a 3-pointer by Harris that opened the lead up to 13 at 39-26 just 1:31 in. Saint Rose used back-to-back jumpers by Brian Hanushack to slice the deficit to nine before a 3-pointer by junior James Morse (Arundel, Maine) sparked a 7-0 run that have the Hawks their largest lead of the game at 46-30 with 14:28 remaining.
Saint Rose scored seven of the next nine points to shave the deficit to 11. The Golden Knights still trailed by 11 nearly three minutes later when a layup by Rob Gutierrez and a jumper from Dominykas Milka cut it to seven at 52-45 with 9:05 left to play.
The Hawks scored six straight points to open the lead to 13, but Saint Rose would not go away as they trailed by 14 before reeling off a 10-2 run that cut it to 63-57 with 2:28 remaining. Saint Anselm would hit 11 of their next 12 free throws, however, to ice the win.
Williams snapped his career best four-game double-digit scoring streak as he chipped in with eight points to go along with three rebounds and two assists. Morse recorded seven points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals, while Borelli posted seven points and five boards.
Saint Anselm was outshot, 45.6 percent (26-57) to 39.3 percent (22-56), but held a 58.3 percent (7-12) to 55.6 percent (5-9) edge from behind the arc. Saint Rose held a slight 24-22 edge in the paint, while trailing on the glass, 37-35. The Hawks turned the ball over just nine times, while forcing 14 Saint Rose turnovers.
Pope led all scorers with 20 points.
The Hawks return to action Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7:30 p.m. when they play host to Saint Michael's College at Stoutenburgh.
