MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Chris Santo (Cherry Hill, N.J.) registered his second double-double of the season, but a tough shooting night ended with the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team dropping Wednesday evening's 56-52 decision to the University of New Haven at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
The Hawks lose their third straight for the first time since December 2011 to fall to 8-4 on the season, including 5-3 in Northeast-10 play. The Chargers, who defeated Saint Anselm for the second time in a one-week span, improve to 8-5, 3-5 NE-10. The 108 combined points are the fewest scored in a Saint Anselm game since the Hawks beat AIC, 54-51, Jan. 18, 2012, while the 52 points are the lowest total since the Hawks scored 51 against Adelphi on Jan. 28, 2012.
Santo scored 22 points (10-13 FG, 2-5 FT), pulled down 10 rebounds, made a pair of steals and blocked a shot in 34 minutes.
Eric Anderson (7 rebounds, 5 assists) and Jonny Ocasio (6 rebounds) each led New Haven with 14 points, while Jemal Mosley added 13 points and nine boards.
The opening 11 minutes of the contest featured three ties and eight lead changes until Ocasio's 3-pointer staked New Haven to a 19-15 lead with 8:50 remaining in the opening half. A layup from Santo and a 3-pointer from classmate Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) put the Hawks back in front at 20-19 just over a minute later, but an 8-2 flurry – with four points from Anderson – opened a 27-22 advantage for the visitors with 4:10 on the clock.
A pair of Santo buckets cut the Saint Anselm deficit to just one at 27-26 with 1:19 to go before Mosley would tack on a pair of free throws to allow New Haven to bring a 29-26 edge into the locker room.
Santo would open the second half with a layup that made it a one-point game, but a Tommy Hunt trey and a Mosley jumper nudged the Chargers' lead to 34-28 just 1:38 in. With the deficit at five nearly four minutes later, the Hawks surged ahead, 40-36, with 12:09 remaining as junior Mike McCahey (Clarkstown, N.Y.) fueled a 9-0 run with five points.
New Haven had the answer, however, as it crafted an 11-0 counter-run – behind six points from Anderson – to grab a 47-40 lead with 8:13 to go. A Mabrey jumper, followed by layups from Santo and Mabrey, would pull Saint Anselm within one at 47-46 with 4:46 left, but that was as close as the hosts would get.
Anderson sank a pair of free throws and Mosley followed with a put-back of his own miss to stretch the lead to five with 3:25 remaining. The lead was still five with under 30 seconds to play when junior Victor Joshua (New Haven, Conn.) dropped in a layup to slice the Saint Anselm deficit to 55-52. Samir McDaniels would hit one of his two free throws to make it a four-point game and the Hawks would come up empty on a trio of 3-point attempts over the final 10 seconds.
Mabrey finished with nine points (4-13 FG, 1-8 3-FG), three rebounds and two assists, while McCahey posted eight points (3-11 FG, 2-5 3-FG), eight boards and a pair of assists. Joshua chipped in six points (2-6 FG, 1-3 3-FG, 1-2 FT), two rebounds and an assist in his first career start.
New Haven outshot Saint Anselm, 38.9 percent (21-54) to 37.9 percent (22-58), including 33.3 percent (4-12) to 17.9 percent (5-28) from long distance. The 3-point field goal percentage is the lowest in a game for the Hawks since March 16, 2013 when they shot 15 percent from deep in the NCAA East Region quarterfinal against Bridgeport. The Chargers also sank more free throws (10) than the Hawks attempted (8) and were plus-seven from the line. The glass was even at 36 apiece, New Haven held a slight 34-32 edge in the paint and Saint Anselm put together a better assist-to-turnover ratio (12/8-8/9).
The Hawks return to action Saturday, Jan. 10 at 3:30 p.m. when they take on Adelphi University. The next home game for the Hawks is Saturday, Jan. 17 at 3:30 p.m. when they play host to Pace 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.
