WMUR NEWS 9 HIGHLIGHTS
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Junior Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) knocked down a jumper with 12.0 seconds left in regulation to send the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team to a 79-78 victory against Bentley University on Sunday afternoon in a Northeast-10 Championship quarterfinal tilt at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
The Northeast Division's top-seeded Hawks, who have now won 13 of their last 15 games, including nine straight, to improve to 20-6 on the season, advance to the semifinal round for the second straight year and the 20th time in program history. They will host the University of New Haven, the second seed from the Southwest Division, on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Saint Anselm, which has put together its longest win streak since it won 10-in-a-row from Jan. 17-Feb. 14, 1998, improves to 43-25 (.623) all-time in the Northeast-10 Championship. The W also gives head coach Keith Dickson the 13th 20-win season of his illustrious 28-year career. The Falcons, who were the fifth seed from the Northeast, finish their season at 18-11 overall.
Mabrey finished with 17 points (7-13 FG; 3-5 3-FG), six rebounds and two assists. Sophomore Mike McCahey (Clarkstown, N.Y.) led the team with 20 points (8-20 FG; 4-8 3-FG) and seven rebounds, while senior John Nielsen (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) netted 18 points (6-14 FG; 4-10 30FG; 2-2 FT) to go along with three rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Junior Chris Santo (Cherry Hill, N.J.) notched his sixth double-double of the season with 12 points (5-9 FG; 1-2 3-FG; 1-4 FT) and 11 boards.
Tyler McFarland paced Bentley with 20 points and eight rebounds, while Jasper Grassa added 16 points.
After leading for all but 3:00 of the contest and being ahead by as many as 18 in the first half, the Hawks found themselves up just one at 77-76 when Keegan Hyland drove right and put the ball in off the window to put Bentley back on top for just the fourth time in the game at 78-77 with 18.1 seconds left.
Saint Anselm immediately inbounded the ball and Santo was aggressive as he drove it to the hoop, but he was called for a charge and the ball went back to Bentley with 12.7 on the clock. The Hawks still had fouls to give before they could send the Falcons to the line, so they committed one and took just 0.7 off the game clock. As Bentley attempted to put the ball in play from under Saint Anselm's offensive hoop a second time, the inbounder was crossed up by one of his cutters and he threw the ball out of bounds in front of the Saint Anselm bench to give the Hawks the ball back with 12.0 seconds to play.
Following a Bentley timeout, senior Dino Mallios (Winthrop, Mass.) quickly inbounded the ball to Mabrey, who drained a short baseline jumper to leapfrog his team back into the lead at 79-78 with 10.2 seconds to go.
Grassa then brought the ball up the court, stutter-stepped at the top of the key with five seconds left and drove hard to the hoop, but was stripped underneath by Mallios. The ball caromed off Grassa and looked to be rolling out of bounds, but he was able to pick it up underneath the hoop with two seconds left. McCahey angled him off and used his arms to force Grassa to alter his shot, which he could not get to go in off the glass, and McCahey squeezed the rebound to seal the Hawks' heart-attack victory.
Bentley narrowly outshot Saint Anselm, 45 percent (27-60) to 44.3 percent (31-70), while the Hawks returned the favor from beyond the arc, 46.7 percent (14-30) to 41.7 percent (10-24). The Falcons also used the line to their advantage as they nailed 14 of 15 (93.3%) free throws, with the Hawks going just 3-for-6 (50%). Bentley also controlled the paint (34-16), while the glass was even (36-36). Saint Anselm produced the better assist-to-turnover ratio (16/11-10/14) and held a 15-10 edge in points off mistakes.
McCahey scored the first eight points of the game for the Hawks, who jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first 1:18. After going up by six less than a minute later, Saint Anselm had its lead cut to just a pair when five different Hawks drilled 3-pointers as part of a 17-2 barrage that opened the lead to 30-13 with 9:16 remaining in the opening frame.
Five straight Bentley points whittled the deficit to 12, but Nielsen capped a 13-7 spurt with a trey that gave the Hawks their largest lead of the day at 43-25 with 3:51 to play. Saint Anselm would take a 47-33 advantage into the locker room.
A McCahey 3 began the second-half scoring and nudged the lead back to 17, but Bentley rattled off nine straight points, including five from Hyland and four from McFarland, to slice the deficit to 50-42 just 3:32 in.
With the gap at seven a couple minutes later, baskets from Santo and Nielsen pumped the lead back up to 11, but the Falcons used six points each from Ferguson Duke and Andrew Shaw to craft a 14-4 run that pulled them within one at 63-62 with 9:14 remaining.
The teams traded points, but after Santo made 1 of 2 at the line, Alex Furness sank a pair to knot the game at 66-all with 5:41 left. It was the first time the Hawks had not led since trailing 3-2 just 57 seconds into the game. Santo hit a baseline jumper to put Saint Anselm back in front, but after the squads swapped 3-pointers, McFarland scored five straight to give Bentley its largest winning margin of the contest at 74-71 with just under four minutes to play.
After Santo and Furness traded buckets, Santo hit back with another basket to cut it to one before McCahey knocked down a jumper to give Saint Anselm the lead back at 77-76 with 2:05 on the clock and set up the dramatic final sequence.
Mallios registered five points (2-8 FG; 1-3 3-FG) and five assists, while senior Dominic Borelli (Westbrook, Maine) provided the Hawks with great energy off the bench in the first half as he kicked in two points (1-1 FG), six rebounds and a pair of assists. Sophomore Victor Joshua (New Haven, Conn.) chipped in five points (2-5 FG; 1-2 3-FG), two boards and two assists off the pine.
Hyland posted 14 points and six rebounds for Bentley.
The Hawks return to action Wednesday, March 5 at 7 p.m. when they play host to New Haven in a Northeast-10 Championship semifinal matchup 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.
