MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Chris Santo (Cherry Hill, N.J.) scored 26 points as the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team overcame a nine-point deficit with under four minutes to play to force overtime, but Southern New Hampshire University pulled out a 79-78 victory Thursday evening at the SNHU Fieldhouse.
The Hawks see their four-game winning streak snapped as they fall to 13-6 on the season, including 10-5 in Northeast-10 play. The Penmen, which improve to 31-30 all-time against Saint Anselm, win their seventh straight and are now 14-5, 12-3 NE-10.
Santo, who scored 17 points in the second half and overtime combined, went 11-for-16 from the floor, 2-for-2 from beyond the arc and 2-for-7 from the line, while pulling down nine rebounds and handing out a pair of assists. Classmate Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) registered 19 points (7-18 FG, 4-9 3-FG, 1-1 FT), six rebounds and two assists, while junior Victor Joshua (New Haven, Conn.) added 18 points (3-8 FG, 2-4 3-FG, 10-10 FT) and three helpers.
Rodney Sanders tallied 26 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks to lead SNHU, while Elijah Bonsignore posted 22 points, eight boards and four blocks.
The Hawks were staring at a 68-59 deficit with 3:52 left when Joshua sank a pair of free throws to touch off a 9-0 run that tied the game. Santo followed with three straight baskets, including the final one in which he drew contact and had a chance to tie the game at the line with 39.4 seconds left. Santo, who was 0-for-4 from the stripe to that point in the game, came out of the timeout huddle, stepped to the line and drilled the shot to make it 68-all.
After a foul-to-give turned the shot clock off, SNHU had the final crack at it, but Sanders' short jumper in the paint rolled off the rim to send the game to overtime.
In the extra session, the Penmen struck first, but the teams swapped scores three times to leave the game tied at 74 with 2:39 left. A pair of Sanders free throws and a BJ Cardarelli putback cracked open a 78-74 advantage for SNHU with 44.2 seconds on the clock. Each team would then sink 1 of 2 at the line to keep it a four-point game at 79-75 with 27 seconds to go.
Joshua hit a clutch straightaway 3-pointer with 10.5 on the clock to slice the deficit to one at 79-78. Senior Mark Schulze (Townsend, Mass.) then stole the ensuing inbounds pass on the right baseline and the Hawks frantically worked the ball around to find an open man as the clock wound down. Junior Ryan Hartung (Haverhill, Mass.) ended up with the ball with under two seconds left and his long baseline jumper from the left side of the floor fell just short as time expired.
Sophomore Harrison Taggart (Wallingford, Vt.) chipped in nine points (2-5 FG, 2-3 3-FG, 3-4 FT) and six rebounds.
Saint Anselm outshot SNHU, 45.5 percent (25-55) to 43.3 percent (29-67), including 48 percent (12-25) to 28.6 percent (6-21) from beyond the arc. The Penmen won the glass, 39-36, including 16-10 on the offensive end for an 18-10 gap in second chance points, owned the paint, 42-16, and turned it over 14 times, while forcing 20 Saint Anselm turnovers, for a 23-16 discrepancy in points off mistakes.
The Hawks trailed, 6-2, less than two minutes in when a 3-pointer from Taggart sparked a 16-5 run – highlighted by triples from four different shooters – that opened an 18-11 advantage with 13:50 remaining in the opening half.
The lead was 26-18 midway through the frame when five straight points from Sanders jumpstarted an 11-0 run that put the Penmen in front, 29-26, with 6:50 to go. A three-point play from Mabrey knotted the game at 29-all just 15 seconds later, but seven points from Sanders powered an 11-3 stretch that closed the half and sent SNHU into the locker room with a 40-32 lead.
The Penmen grew the advantage as high as 10 (47-37) nearly three minutes into the second half, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Mabrey and Hartung slashed the deficit to 47-43 with 16:13 remaining.
The margin bounced between three and eight over the next 11-plus minutes before a Devin Gilligan layup nudged the SNHU lead to nine at 68-59 with 4:26 left to set up the dramatics from Santo and the Hawks.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, Feb. 7 at 3:30 p.m. when they play host to Bentley University 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.
