MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Chris Santo (Cherry Hill, N.J.) scored 20 points and junior Mike McCahey (Clarkstown, N.Y.) recorded his 10th career double-double, but the 21st-ranked Saint Anselm College men's basketball team suffered an 82-69 loss to crosstown rival Southern New Hampshire University on Wednesday night in both teams' conference opener at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
The Hawks, who had beaten Southern New Hampshire in nine of the previous 10 meetings, including six straight, drop to 2-1 on the season (0-1 Northeast-10). The Penmen improve to 2-0, 1-0 NE-10, as they beat Saint Anselm for the first time since an 81-65 home victory Nov. 22, 2011.
Santo shot 8-for-13 from the floor and was 4-for-5 from the stripe, while tallying five rebounds, three steals and two assists. McCahey scored 16 points (5-14 FG, 1-5 3-FG, 5-8 FT), pulled down 10 rebounds and blocked a pair of shots. Freshman Kyle Green (Woodbury Heights, N.J.) was also in double figures with 11 points on an efficient 4 of 5 shooting from the field and 3 of 4 shooting from the line, to go along with six boards.
Rodney Sanders led Southern New Hampshire with a game-high 25 points.
With the game tied at 5, five straight points from McCahey elevated the Hawks into the lead at 10-5 with 13:50 remaining in the opening half. SNHU then followed with a 13-5 run that featured points from five different scorers and gave the Penmen their first lead of the night at 18-15 with 9:24 to play.
A 3-pointer from senior Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) knotted the game 19 seconds later and the teams traded baskets to bring the score to 20-all with 8:03 to go. Southern New Hampshire then went on a roll as it ripped off a 13-3 run – powered by seven points from Sanders – to open up a 33-23 advantage with 3:47 on the clock.
The lead was nine when Green converted a layup just before the horn sounded to send Saint Anselm into the locker room trailing, 37-30.
SNHU bumped the lead to nine right out of the locker room as BJ Cardarelli dropped in a jumper. After the teams traded scores, layups from McCahey and Santo trimmed the deficit to five, but a 6-0 run – sparked by a Cardarelli trey – opened the lead to 47-36 nearly four minutes in.
Sophomore Harrison Taggart (Cuttingsville, Vt.) answered with a 3 from the left corner that Mabrey followed with a layup to pull the Hawks within six. The gap was then five when seven points from Elijah Bonsignore powered a 9-2 spurt that ran the Penmen lead to 61-49 with 10:55 to go. The Hawks hit back with five straight to close within seven.
After SNHU had stretched the lead back to nine, five straight points from Saint Anselm pulled it within four at 66-62 with 6:17 remaining and it looked like the Hawks might have one final run in them. But they could not forge closer than four and the Penmen would close the game on a 12-3 streak to earn the win.
Mabrey finished with six points, while Taggart posted five points, five rebounds and three assists.
Southern New Hampshire outshot Saint Anselm, 47.6 percent (30-63) to 41.4 percent (24-58), including 47.1 percent (8-17) to 20.8 percent (5-24) from beyond the arc. The Penmen held advantages on the glass (37-34), in the paint (38-34) and in points off turnovers (16-8) after giving it away 14 times and forcing 18 Saint Anselm mistakes.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, Nov. 22 at 3:30 p.m. when they play host to Assumption College at Stoutenburgh. 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.
