NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Junior Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) led all scorers with 26 points to lead the third-seeded Saint Anselm College men's basketball team to a 73-62 victory against sixth-seeded Le Moyne College in an NCAA East Regional quarterfinal contest Saturday afternoon at Southern Connecticut State University's Moore Field House.
The Hawks, who have now won 10 of their last 11, win their first NCAA Tournament game since 2006 to improve to 21-7 on the season. They advance to Sunday's (5 p.m.) semifinal against seventh-seeded Bloomfield College. Saint Anselm had dropped three straight NCAA Tournament games since an 83-63 win against the University of Bridgeport on March 11, 2006 at the East Regional on the campus of Stonehill College. The Dolphins end the year at 17-12.
Mabrey, who began the game 7 of 8 from the field and 5 of 6 from beyond the arc, finished 8-for-20 from the floor, including 6-for-13 from deep, and 4-for-5 from the line. Sophomore Mike McCahey (Clarkstown, N.Y.) added 18 points (7-13 FG; 4-9 3-FG), including 12 in the second half, six rebounds, two assists and a pair of blocks. Senior John Nielsen (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) was also in double figures with 13 points (4-10 FG; 3-8 3-FG; 2-2 FT) to go along with three rebounds and two steals.
Nate Champion paced Le Moyne with 17 points and five helpers.
Saint Anselm led 8-7 just three minutes in when 3-pointers by Connor Mahoney and Nate Gause highlighted a 10-0 barrage that put Le Moyne on top, 17-8, with 13:36 remaining in the opening half. The gap was still nine over two minutes later when back-to-back 3-pointers from Mabrey keyed a 10-0 counter run that gave the Hawks the lead back at 23-22 with 8:32 left.
A jumper from Champion and a dunk in traffic by Jim Janson put Le Moyne in front by three over a minute later, but a McCahey trey tied the game and set off a 15-4 stretch that featured 3s from Nielsen (2), Mabrey and Mallios to put Saint Anselm up, 38-30, with 2:24 on the clock.
Four straight points from Qwadere Lovell cut the Le Moyne deficit in half before McCahey and Mahoney swapped 3-pointers to close the scoring with Saint Anselm leading, 41-37, at the break. The Hawks improved to 15-2 when ahead at the half.
The Hawks used four points from McCahey and three from Mabrey to craft a 7-2 spurt that opened the lead to 48-39 right out of the gate in the second half. With the lead at eight six minutes in, eight points from McCahey powered a 10-2 run that gave Saint Anselm its largest lead of the day at 63-47 with 10:52 to play.
The margin was the same a minute later when Le Moyne scored 13 straight points, behind seven from Champion, to slice its deficit to 65-62 with 1:53 remaining. The Dolphins went 9:40 without a field goal until a Champion jumper cut it to 65-55 with 4:02 left.
Senior Dino Mallios (Winthrop, Mass.) answered with maybe the biggest bucket of the game as he brought the ball up, found an opening and drove to his right before finishing at the rim to make it a two-possession game with 55 seconds to go. That basket was the first for the Hawks since McCahey capped the 10-2 run with a layup with 10:52 remaining. It also set off an 8-0 run that closed the game as Saint Anselm went 6-for-6 from the line over the final 30 seconds to seal it.
Mallios registered seven points (3-4 FG; 1-1 3-FG), eight assists and three rebounds, while freshman Isaiah Nelsen (No. Andover, Mass.) chipped in six points (1-3 FG; 4-4 FT), three rebounds and a steal in 15 huge minutes off the bench. Nelsen, who played his second highest number of minutes this season due to major foul trouble for both junior Chris Santo (Cherry Hill, N.J.) and senior Dominic Borelli (Westbrook, Maine), also helped in a big way, defensively, against the 6-foot-11-inch Janson, who finished with just 12 points and five boards.
Shooting was nearly even as Le Moyne held a slight 44.9 percent (22-49) to 44.4 percent (24-54) edge, but Saint Anselm made the difference from 3 as it outshot the Dolphins, 43.8 percent (14-32), to 27.8 percent (5-18). While Le Moyne owned margins in the paint (24-10) and on the glass (33-27), the Hawks used a better assist-to-turnover ratio (14/6-7/13) for a 19-6 gap in points off turnovers.
The Hawks return to action Sunday, March 15 at 5 p.m. when they take on Bloomfield at Moore Field House as they try and advance to their first regional final since 2000, when they won the East Regional at Southern Connecticut. 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.
