WALTHAM, Mass. – The #20-ranked Saint Anselm College men's basketball team suffered their first loss of the season in an 86-78 setback at the hands of Bentley University in Northeast-10 Conference action on Wednesday night at the Dana Center Gymnasium in Waltham, Mass.
The Hawks fall to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the NE-10 while the Falcons improve to 5-2 and 3-0 in conference games.
Chris Braley (Newport, Maine) connected on a triple for his first bucket in his return to the starting lineup that gave the Hawks an 8-2 advantage early in the first half. Bentley answered on the other end, but Harrison Taggart (Wallingford, Vt.) canned a triple of his own to stake the visitors to an 11-4 lead with 16:44 to play.
The Falcons connected on back-to-back threes to pull within one at 13-12, but a jumper from Mike McCahey (Clarkstown, N.Y.) and a pair of Victor Joshua (New Haven, Conn.) free throws pushed the Hawk lead back to 17-12. Again Bentley had the answer, rattling off a 10-2 run capped off by an Alex Furness layup in traffic that gave the Falcons their first lead of the game at 22-19 and forced a Saint Anselm timeout.
The Bentley lead grew to as many as six, but McCahey kept the Hawks in the game with a pair of baskets sandwiched around a Tim Guers (Langhorne, Pa.) jumper at the top of the key to make it a 29-25 deficit with 6:08 to play. McCahey nailed another jumper to climb within a basket, and Tim Braley stole a pass on the wing that led to a fast break layup for Guers that knotted the game at 29-all.
The lead went back and forth before two-straight triples from McCahey put the Hawks on top 35-31. Cody Ball (Londonderry, N.H.) kept it a 37-33 lead with a jumper in the final two minutes, but Bentley ended the half scoring the final five points of the period to take a 38-37 lead into the break.
Bentley came out firing to open the second half and jumped out to a 63-47 lead with 13:09 to play. The Hawks slowly chipped away and a three point play from Guers made it a 66-55 game with 10:34 remaining.
A triple from Guers followed by a fast break layup from Victor Joshua got the Hawks to within 10, but they could not cut the deficit to below that until a three from Taggart with 24 seconds remaining made it an 83-76 game. That would be as close as the Hawks would get as the Falcons went 3-for-4 at the charity stripe to fend off Saint Anselm and hang on for the 86-78 win.
The Hawks grabbed 44 rebounds on the night – including 13 offensive boards – but committed 19 turnovers leading to 24 points for Bentley. Both teams were efficient from the floor as the Hawks shot 44.9% (31-69) from the field compared to 49.2% shooting for the Falcons.
Mike McCahey led the Hawks with 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting to go with six rebounds and three steals. Current NE-10 Rookie of the Week Tim Guers added 17 points, five rebounds, and four assists, while Harrison Taggart knocked down four three pointers en route to 16 points and swiped three steals of his own. Victor Joshua ended the night with 13 points, six rebounds, and a pair of blocks. Chris Braley led Saint Anselm on the boards with seven rebounds.
The Hawks return to action on Saturday afternoon when they host Merrimack College in an NE-10 matchup scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
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