MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Chris Santo (Cherry Hill, N.J.) poured in a career- and game-high 35 points to carry the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team past American International College, 92-71, Saturday afternoon at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
The Hawks win for the fifth time in six contests, including their fourth straight, to improve to 13-5 on the season and 10-4 in Northeast-10 play as they keep pace just one game behind Southern New Hampshire University for first place in the Northeast Division. The Yellow Jackets, who lead the Southwest Division, lose for just the second time in 13 games and see their win streak snapped at five, as they fall to 15-4, 10-3 NE-10. This is also the first road loss of the season for AIC, which is now 10-1 away from Butova Gymnasium.
Santo, who scored 21 of his points in the first frame, shot a mind-blowing 16-for-19 from the floor, including 1 of 1 from downtown, and 2 of 4 from the line, while pulling down five rebounds. Interestingly, Santo becomes the first Hawk ever to make 16 baskets in a game – just three shy of the school record and the fifth-best mark in program history. Mabrey chimed in with 24 points (10-18 FG, 4-9 3-FG), including 17 in the opening half, while tallying three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.
Junior Ryan Hartung (Haverhill, Mass.) posted 12 points (4-7 FG, 4-6 3-FG) and six boards, while classmate Victor Joshua (New Haven, Conn.) registered his first career double-double with 10 points (3-7 FG, 4-4 FT) and a career-high 10 assists, to go along with five rebounds, a block and a steal.
Bobby Harris led AIC with 26 points, 12 rebounds and three assists, while Cameron Dobbs added 21 points.
Trailing by three less than a minute-and-a-half into the contest, the Hawks reeled off 12 straight points – with five coming from Mabrey, including a jumper that gave them the lead for good at the 17:31 mark – to open a 14-5 advantage with 15:17 remaining in the opening half.
Saint Anselm would eventually bump the lead to an even 10, but the Yellow Jackets pulled to within five at 32-37 with 7:32 to play. Then the Hawks erupted, ripping off a 24-8 run – with eight points from Santo, six from Hartung and five each from Mabrey and Joshua – that was highlighted by a Santo tip-dunk off a Joshua miss and broke open a 56-35 upper-hand for the hosts with 1:16 left. Dobbs would drain his fifth trey of the opening half to trim Saint Anselm's halftime lead to 56-38.
Harris came out of the locker room looking to single-handedly bring AIC back as he scored the first 13 points of a 15-9 run that sliced the deficit to 12 at 65-53 with 12:29 to play. With the margin at 13 nearly three minutes later, a Mabrey 3 keyed a 12-2 swing that opened Saint Anselm's largest lead of the afternoon at 82-59 with 7:17 remaining. In the end, that put the game away as AIC never pulled closer than 19.
Sophomore Harrison Taggart (Wallingford, Vt.) posted seven points (2-8 FG, 1-3 3-FG, 2-2 FT), seven boards and three assists.
Saint Anselm, which hit at a 65.7 percent (23-35) clip in the first half, outshot AIC, 52.2 percent (36-69) to 41.9 percent (26-62), including 41.7 percent (10-24) to 40 percent (10-25) from deep. The Hawks also held a slight edge at the line, 83.3 percent (10-12) to 75 percent (9-12), in addition to owning advantages in rebounding (38-33), the paint (46-24), assist-to-turnover ratio (21/10-11/18), points off turnovers (20-8) and second chance points (12-9).
The Hawks return to action Thursday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. when they take on crosstown rival SNHU in a game that will be televised live on NESNplus. The next home game for the Hawks is Saturday, Feb. 7 at 3:30 p.m. when they play host to Bentley University 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.
