PHILADELPHIA – Juniors Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) and Chris Santo (Cherry Hill, N.J.) scored 19 and 18 points, respectively, but the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team fell to Philadelphia University, 81-73, in its final non-conference game of the season Thursday afternoon at the Gallagher Center.
The Hawks, who entered the contest winners of six of their last seven, dip to 7-4 overall, while the Rams improve to 9-4.
Mabrey shot 7-for-24, including just 2-for-11 from long distance, where the Hawks were an uncharacteristic 6-for-27 (22.2%) as a team. Mabrey also knocked down all three of his free throws and tallied six rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Santo, meanwhile, was an efficient 7 of 9 from the floor and 4 of 5 at the stripe to go along with four boards, two blocks, two assists and a swipe. Senior Dino Mallios (Winthrop, Mass.) was also in double figures with 11 points (4-7 FG; 1-3 3-FG; 2-2 FT) and eight assists.
Peter Alexis paced the Rams with game-highs of 25 points and 14 rebounds.
A Mabrey 3-pointer 1:15 into the contest gave the Hawks their only lead of the day at 3-2 before a trey from senior John Nielsen (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) and a layup from Santo earned Saint Anselm ties at 6-6 and 8-8. A pair of Andrew Gibbs free throws with 15:52 remaining in the opening half handed Philadelphia the lead for good and sparked a 10-0 run that made it 18-8 with 12:54 left. Gibbs and Alexis each kicked in four points during the stretch.
After the Hawks had cut their deficit in half later in the stanza, another 10-0 burst from the Rams – with six points from Alexis – gave the hosts their largest lead of the afternoon at 37-22 with 3:48 to play. Baskets from sophomore Mike McCahey (Clarkstown, N.Y.) and Mallios would stop the bleeding, but Saint Anselm would head into the locker room trailing, 43-32.
With the lead at 52-42 just over five minutes into the second half, a Nielsen triple triggered a quick 9-3 spurt that slashed the deficit down to four at 55-51 with 12:37 remaining. A jumper from sophomore Victor Joshua (New Haven, Conn.) later in the half pulled the Hawks to within three at 61-58 with 7:41 left, but four straight points nudged the Rams' lead back to seven.
Another Nielsen trifecta with 5:12 on the clock kept the Hawks close at 65-62, but four straight points from Nick Schlizter made it a seven-point game with 4:01 left. The Hawks would get to within four just over a minute later, but a 7-2 run from Philadelphia stretched the advantage to 81-71 with 10 seconds left to seal the victory.
Nielsen kicked in nine points (3-8 FG; 3-7 3-FG), while McCahey posted eight points (4-11 FG), five boards, two blocks, two steals and a pair of assists. Joshua chipped in six points (3-4 FG).
Gibbs added 19 for the Rams.
Philadelphia outshot Saint Anselm, 51.9 percent (27-52) to 44.6 percent (29-65), but also did not fare well from beyond the arc as it shot just 2-for-8 (25%) from deep. The Rams dominated the glass (43-23), while Saint Anselm won the paint (34-28) and produced a much better assist-to-turnover ratio (16/6-9/12) as it held a 19-6 margin in points off mistakes.
The next home game for the Hawks is Saturday, Jan. 4 at 3:30 p.m. when they resume conference play by hosting the College of Saint Rose at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium. 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 and following us on Twitter @STAHawks.
