Box Score
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Fresh off their highest ranking since March of the 2012-13 season, the #9 Saint Anselm College men's basketball team defeated visiting Adelphi University, 109-79, on Tuesday night in Northeast-10 Conference action at the Stoutenburgh Gymnasium in Manchester, N.H.
The Hawks improve to 16-2 overall and 11-2 in the NE-10, while Adelphi falls to 16-5 and 8-5 in league games.
Harrison Taggart (Wallingford, Vt.) set a new career-high with 29 points to go with five rebounds and five assists to lead the Hawks. Tim Guers (Langhorne, Pa.) added 15 points, four rebounds, and four assists of his own, while Chris Braley (Newport, Maine) grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds and added 13 points for his fifth double-double of the year.
Mike McCahey (Clarkstown, N.Y.) scored 14 points to go with eight rebounds, with Victor Joshua (New Haven, Conn.) having an all-around game with 11 points, four rebounds, eight assists, and four steals. Ryan Hartung (Haverhill, Mass.) chipped in 12 points of the bench.
Adelphi had four players reach double-figures in scoring led by 18 points from Michael Coffey. Anthony Libroia scored 14 points, while Tavon Ginyard scored 13 points of his own. Jack Laffey hit 4-of-8 threes en route to 12 points and five rebounds.
The game started out as a back-and-forth battle before two-straight threes from Taggart and Hartung extended the Hawk lead to 18-9. A jumper from McCahey pushed the Hawks in front 25-13, and a layup inside from the senior gave the Hawks a 30-15 advantage with 9:31 to play and forced an Adelphi timeout.
Out of the stoppage, the Hawks went on an 11-3 run capped off by a Braley score inside to take a commanding 41-18 lead with 7:22 remaining in the half. Taggart went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe four minutes later to give the Hawks their largest lead of the stanza at 53-25, but Adelphi ended the half on an 8-2 run to trail only 55-33 at the break.
The Panthers pulled to within 17 in the opening minute of the second half as a corner triple from Jack Laffey made it a 55-38 game. A 7-0 run by the Hawks, including five-straight points from Taggart, put Saint Anselm back on top 62-38 a few minutes later. The two teams traded baskets and a jumper from just inside the free throw line made it an 84-64 ballgame with 9:10 to play and forced a Saint Anselm timeout.
Conor McGuinness kept it a 20 point game just under two minutes later, and the Hawks answered with one final huge run, rattling off a 13-2 stretch that ended with an exclamation point as Cody Ball (Londonderry, N.H.) got up for a monster jam on the fast-break that gave the Hawks a 102-71 lead. Adelphi would get no closer than 27 as the Hawks cruised to the 109-79 victory on Tuesday night.
Saint Anselm dominated the glass, outrebounding the Panthers 42-33 in the game. The Hawks committed only 11 turnovers to 16 for Adelphi, which the Hawks turned into 25 points off turnovers. Saint Anselm shot 53.7% (36-of-67) from the floor and 48.4% (15-of-31) from beyond the arc in the game. Adelphi shot 47.7% from the field (31-of-65) but connected on only 6-of-21 three-pointers (28.6%).
The Hawks begin a three game road-trip on Saturday afternoon when they travel to the University of New Haven for a 1:30 p.m. matchup with the Chargers in NE-10 action.
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