Box Score
MANCHESTER, N.H. – All five starters scored in double-figures as the Saint Anselm College men's basketball team cruised to a 102-83 victory over Bentley University in a Northeast-10 Conference matchup on Senior Day at the Stoutenburgh Gymnasium in Manchester, N.H.
With the win, the Hawks move to the top of the NE-10 standings at 20-5 overall and 15-5 in conference games, while Bentley drops to 18-7 and 15-5 in league matchups. Saint Anselm wraps up the NE-10 regular season on Tuesday night when they travel across town to take on Southern New Hampshire University in a 7:30 p.m. game that will be broadcast on NESNplus.
Saint Anselm honored their four member senior class in a pregame ceremony as they thanked Mike McCahey (Clarkstown, N.Y.), Victor Joshua (New Haven, Conn.), Ryan Hartung (Haverhill, Mass.) and Andrew Murphy (Franklin, Mass.) for their contributions to the college and its athletics department. At halftime, the men's basketball program honored all of the previous Championship teams of the past 30 years and had over 40 alumni in attendance to represent those squads.
Back to the action on the floor, Harrison Taggart (Wallingford, Vt.) posted his second-straight double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Hawks. Mike McCahey poured in 19 points of his own on 7-of-12 shooting, while Tim Guers (Langhorne, Pa.) added 17 points and six rebounds. Victor Joshua scored 14 points to go with six assists, and Chris Braley (Newport, Maine) just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Bentley was led by 20 points and eight rebounds from Keegan Hyland. Tyler McFarland netted 19 points, while Alex Furness chipped in 17 points. Brandon Wheeler led the Falcons with nine rebounds to go with six points.
McCahey canned a triple with 14:24 remaining in the first half to make it an 11-2 lead and force a Bentley timeout. He answered a Furness layup with another three, and a three-point play from Victor Joshua extended the lead to 17-4. Tyler McFarland eventually cut the Saint Anselm lead to 25-14 with a three, but back-to-back triples from Taggart forced another Falcon timeout with the Hawks on top 31-14.
Saint Anselm's lead grew to as many as 21 following a McCahey three-point play, and the Hawks took a 46-27 lead into the half.
The second half started out as a back-and-forth battle as the teams combined to only miss four shots in the first four-plus minutes of action. Victor Joshua nailed a pair of free throws at the 15:26 mark to make it a 63-44 game. A pair of McFarland free throws cut the deficit to only 63-48 for the Falcons, but Tim Guers buried a three to keep the Hawks on top by 18 with just over 12 minutes remaining.
The Falcons slowly chipped away and a Keegan Hyland free throw at the 8:10 mark left the Hawks with only a 72-59 advantage. Back-to-back layups from Chris Braley sparked a 10-2 run to put the Hawks back in control at 83-62, and a three-point play from Taylor Fortin (Tolland, Conn.) gave Saint Anselm a 90-70 lead with 3:52 to play. Both teams eventually emptied their benches as the Hawks cruised to the 102-83 win over the Falcons.
Saint Anselm shot a blistering 58.2% (39-of-67) from the floor and connected on 11-of-23 (47.8%) of their three-point attempts. Bentley shot 29-of-70 (41.4%) from the floor and committed only five turnovers to 12 for the Hawks. Saint Anselm held a 44-30 advantage in rebounding in the game.
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