MANCHESTER, N.H. – Senior Chris Santo (Cherry Hill, N.J.) notched his eighth double-double of the season to help send the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team back to the Northeast-10 Championship title game for the first time since 2006 with an 80-68 semifinal win against Saint Michael's College on Wednesday evening at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium.
The Hawks, seeded second in the Northeast Division, improve to 19-8 on the season and advance to host Saturday's (1 p.m.) championship game live on ESPN3. The Hawks, who had lost in the semifinal round four times since their last trip to the title game in 2006, including the previous two seasons, will host the final for the first time since 1996. Saint Anselm will take on the Southwest's No. 2 seed, American International College, which toppled the Northeast's top seed, Southern New Hampshire University, 82-79, on Wednesday.
The Hawks, who are 10-3 at home this year, win for the 10th time in 13 contests, including the eighth time in nine games at Stoutenburgh. Saint Anselm also defeats Saint Michael's for the seventh straight time overall and has captured 23 of the last 28, as well as 12 of the most recent 13. At home, the Hawks have now won 24 of 30 against Saint Michael's, including seven-in-a-row. The Purple Knights, seeded fourth in the Northeast, drop to 18-11 overall.
Saint Anselm improves to 45-26 (.634) all-time in the Northeast-10 Championship, including 12-2 as a No. 2 seed, 11-10 in the semifinal round and a perfect 3-0 against Saint Michael's. The Hawks will play in their league-best 11th championship game, looking for their eighth tournament title – the most recent of which came in 2006. They are 8-3 against the Yellow Jackets in the NE-10 Championship, including 2-0 in title tilts. Coincidentally enough, the last time Saint Anselm hosted and won a championship game at home was against AIC in 1996.
Santo, who scored 20 points in the second half, poured in 33 points (9-16 FG, 15-19 FT), ripped down 10 rebounds and made five steals. The 15 free throws are a career best for Santo. Classmate Mark Schulze (Townsend, Mass.) supported that effort with 16 points (6-9 FG, 1-4 3-FG, 3-4 FT), two rebounds, two assists and four steals. Sophomore Harrison Taggart (Wallingford, Vt.) posted 12 points (5-11 FG, 2-6 3-FG) – nine in the opening half – four rebounds and five assists, while junior Victor Joshua (New Haven, Conn.) finished with 10 points (2-3 FG, 1-2 3-FG, 5-6 FT), seven boards and two helpers. Joshua hit some clutch free throws down the stretch, while both he and Taggart each knocked down a monster 3-pointer in the final three minutes.
James Cambronne led Saint Michael's with 19 points.
The Hawks led for just over 21 minutes of the game, which featured six ties and 12 lead changes, but found themselves trailing by their biggest margin of the contest at 57-50 with under eight minutes to play when they responded by closing out with a 30-11 surge over the final 7:37.
Saint Anselm used a 17-4 burst to flip the seven-point deficit into a six-point lead, as eight points from Santo, who triggered the run with a layup, and seven from Joshua, who capped it with a gigantic right-corner trey, helped the Hawks grab hold of a 67-61 advantage with 2:40 to play.
Corey Crawford II answered with a 3-pointer to cut the Saint Michael's deficit in half, but Taggart nailed a 3 from the left corner to sink the Purple Knights' spirits and touch off a game-ending 13-4 run. Santo had six points during the stretch, which was powered by the Hawks going 10-for-12 from the stripe over the final 1:10.
Saint Anselm outshot Saint Michael's, 49 percent (25-51) to 40.3 percent (25-62), including 57.1 percent (12-21) to 44.1 percent (15-34) in the second half. The Purple Knights were better from beyond the arc, 39.3 percent (11-28) to 31.8 percent (7-22), but the Hawks cleaned up at the line as they went 23-for-29 (79.3%) compared to just 7 of 8 (87.5%) for Saint Michael's. Saint Anselm won the paint (30-24) and turned 15 Saint Michael's mistakes into a 21-12 gap in points off turnovers, while giving it away just 10 times itself. The Purple Knights owned a 34-32 edge on the glass.
The Hawks led by two early on when layups by Taggart and Schulze gave them their largest lead of the opening stanza at 11-5 just 4:15 in. The margin was still six nearly five minutes later when a 9-0 Saint Michael's run – with the final six points coming from Mike Thompson – gave them their first lead of the night at 22-19 with 6:09 remaining.
The Purple Knights' lead ran as high as five (29-24) on a Dom Ditlefsen 3-pointer with 3:05 on the clock, but Saint Anselm closed the half with a 10-0 blitz – with two pairs of Santo points sandwiched around consecutive triples from junior Ryan Hartung (Haverhill, Mass.) – to take a 34-29 lead into the locker room.
Santo opened the second half with a baseline jumper that bumped the lead to seven, but Saint Michael's responded with a 15-5 run – with five points from Cambronne – to grab a 44-41 edge with 13:47 remaining.
A Schulze trifecta just over a minute later knotted the game at 46 before Santo freebies gave the Hawks a two-point lead. A Ditlefsen layup tied the contest for the fifth time and sparked an 11-2 surge that opened the Purple Knights' largest lead of night at 57-50 with 8:45 to go.
Hartung chipped in six points (2-4 FG, 2-4 3-FG) and two rebounds, while senior Roy Mabrey (Belmar, N.J.) was held to just three points (1-8 FG, 1-6 3-FG) and five boards. Mabrey became the Hawks' all-time leader in minutes played during the first minute of the second half as he passed Matt Cahill, who racked up 3,874 minutes from 2002-06.
Crawford added 16 points for Saint Michael's, while Thompson and Ditlefsen chipped in 12 and 11, respectively.
The Hawks return to action Saturday, March 7 at 1 p.m. when they will vie for the Northeast-10 Championship crown, playing host to AIC in a game that can be viewed live on ESPN3. 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.
