WALTHAM, Mass. – Senior Chris Santo (Cherry Hill, N.J.) scored a team-high 19 points, but the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team suffered a 79-72 loss against Bentley University on Saturday afternoon at the Dana Center.
The Hawks lose their second straight regular season game for the first time since Feb. 18-21, 2012 to drop to 8-3 on the season, including 5-2 in Northeast-10 play. Bentley has now won eight of nine, including six straight, to improve to 9-5, 4-4 NE-10.
Santo shot 9-for-20 from the field and was 1-for-3 at the line to go along with eight rebounds. Senior Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) netted 13 points (5-12 FG, 3-7 3-FG), including 11 in the first half, and pulled down six rebounds. Junior Victor Joshua (New Haven, Conn.) added 12 points (5-12 FG, 2-2 FT), six boards and three assists off the bench.
Tyler McFarland led Bentley with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
After Mabrey put the Hawks on the board with a 3-pointer that made it 3-2 a little over two-and-a-half minutes in, Bentley reeled off eight straight to open up a 10-3 advantage with 14:14 remaining in the opening stanza.
With the deficit at six less than two minutes later, Mabrey drained another triple to cut it to 12-9 and then hit his third trifecta of the half to pull the Hawks back within 16-12 with 11:32 left after Bentley had nudged the lead back to seven. The Falcons responded with six straight to push the lead into double digits at 22-12 midway through the half.
Six points from Santo fueled an 8-2 run that trimmed the margin to four at 28-24 with 3:18 on the clock, but a Keegan Hyland 3-pointer halted the run and opened the lead back up to seven. With the gap still seven with under a minute left, a layup from Joshua, followed by a block from sophomore Harrison Taggart (Wallingford, Vt.), who then ran the break and found Santo for a layup, sent Saint Anselm into the locker room trailing, 33-30.
Bentley opened the second half with a pair of baskets to take a seven-point lead, but buckets from Santo and Joshua made it a one-possession game again 3:09 in. The margin was four nearly four minutes later when four straight Bentley points bumped the lead to 48-40 with 11:56 to play.
A 3-pointer from junior Mike McCahey (Clarkstown, N.Y.), followed by a steal and a layup from senior Mark Schulze (Townsend, Mass.), trimmed the Saint Anselm deficit back to three at 48-45 just over 30 seconds later. Bentley would run the lead back up to seven, but a 6-1 spurt for the Hawks pulled them within two at 53-51 with 8:32 left.
With the margin still just a pair with 3:49 on the clock, a 7-0 Bentley run – with the final five coming from McFarland – gave the Falcons some breathing room at 68-59 with 2:37 remaining. Saint Anselm would never get closer than five as Bentley went 10-for-12 at the stripe down the stretch.
Schulze tallied eight points (4-4 FG), three rebounds and three assists, while sophomore Grant Mackay (No. Berwick, Scotland) chipped in six points (2-2 FG, 2-2 FT) in seven minutes off the pine.
Bentley outshot Saint Anselm, 44.8 percent (26-58) to 41.1 percent (30-73), including 64 percent (16-25) to 46.2 percent (18-39) in the second half. The Hawks made two more 3-pointers (4) than the Falcons (2), but neither team shot better than 20 percent from deep. Bentley feasted at the line as it went 25-for-30 (83.3%) compared to Saint Anselm's 8 of 10 (80%). The Falcons also won the glass (45-33), while the Hawks held a slight edge in the paint (42-40) and a 12-6 gap in points off turnovers. Saint Anselm only turned it over seven times, while forcing 12 Bentley mistakes.
Alex Furness scored 17 points for Bentley, while Hyland posted 11 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
The Hawks return to action Wednesday, Jan. 7 at 7:30 p.m. when they play host to the University of New Haven in a conference rematch of their New Year's Eve non-conference battle 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.
