MANCHESTER, N.H. – Sophomore Chris Santo (Cherry Hill, N.J.) scored a game-high 14 points to lead the ninth-ranked Saint Anselm College men's basketball team to a 70-52 victory in its regular-season finale against Stonehill College on Tuesday evening at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium on Senior Night.
The Hawks win for the 10th time in their last 11 games – and 17th time in the previous 19 – to close their regular season at 22-4. With an 18-4 mark in Northeast-10 play, Saint Anselm wins its sixth Northeast-10 Regular-Season Championship, including the fifth under head coach Keith Dickson. The Hawks also earn the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Northeast-10 Championship tournament, which comes with it home court throughout the tourney and a bye to the quarterfinal round. The winner of No. 8 UMass Lowell and No. 9 Le Moyne will take on the Hawks at Stoutenburgh – where they are 11-1 this season – on Sunday, March 3 at 3 p.m. It is the first outright regular-season title and top seed for Saint Anselm since the 1998-99 campaign. The Skyhawks finish their season at 11-15, 7-15 NE-10.
Santo shot 5-for-9 from the floor and 4-for-6 from the line to go along with three rebounds and a pair of steals. Junior Dino Mallios (Winthrop, Mass.) was also in double figures with 11 points (5-11 FG; 1-3 3-FG), while adding a career-best seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Saint Anselm jumped out to a 15-4 lead just 8:01 in behind five points from Mallios and four from Santo. A 6-0 run from the Skyhawks sliced their deficit to just five with 9:18 remaining in the opening half, but the Hawks answered with a 9-2 run – with four points from Santo – that widened their advantage to 24-12 with 4:28 to go.
Stonehill climbed back within nine at 26-17 at the 3:24 mark, but Saint Anselm closed the half on a 10-0 run that was powered by a pair of 3-pointers from junior John Nielsen (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) to take a 36-17 lead into the break.
A 9-4 stretch to begin the second half – with a pair of 3s from Adam Fazzini – trimmed Stonehill's deficit to 40-26 just 2:15 in. Saint Anselm responded with a 5-0 run that pushed the lead back to 19 just over a minute-and-a-half later.
The Skyhawks would answer back again, however, using a 5-0 spurt of their own after the teams traded baskets to get back within 14. After a Santo tip-in, a Sam Markle layup and a Jack Cole dunk pulled Stonehill within 49-37 at the 11:25 mark.
Stonehill would whittle it down to 10 at 53-43 with 7:32 to play, but the Hawks grabbed control and went on an 11-0 run – with five points from sophomore guard Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) – to grab their largest lead of the night at 64-43 with 4:15 remaining. The Skyhawks cut it to 15, but sophomore Mark Schulze (Townsend, Mass.) put an exclamation point on the win with an off-the-glass 3-pointer from 30 feet with the shot clock winding down.
Nielsen finished with nine points (2-5 FG; 2-3 3-FG; 3-4 FT) and three rebounds, while freshman Victor Joshua (New Haven, Conn.) also added nine points (2-4 FG; 5-6 FT), three rebounds and two assists. Mabrey collected eight points and five rebounds. Freshman Mike McCahey (Clarkstown, N.Y.) netted eight points (4-8 FG) to go along with seven rebounds and three steals. Junior Dominic Borelli (Westbrook, Maine) pulled down a game-high nine rebounds and scored four points on perfect shooting (2-2 FG).
Saint Anselm outshot Stonehill, 40.7 percent (24-59) to 37.3 percent (22-59), including 29.4 percent (5-17) to 26.3 percent (5-19) from long range. The Hawks controlled the glass, 45-32, including 15-8 on the offensive end. They also held a 32-24 advantage in the paint and turned it over 14 times, while forcing 17 Stonehill turnovers.
Markle led the Skyhawks with 13 points.
The Hawks return to action Sunday, March 3 at 3 p.m. when they play host to either UMass Lowell or Le Moyne in a Northeast-10 quarterfinal matchup. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by liking us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/STAHawks) and following us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/STAHawks).
