GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm College men's basketball team picked up their fifth-straight win with an 88-76 victory over Adelphi University on Tuesday night in Northeast-10 Conference action in Garden City, N.Y.
Box Score
The Hawks improve to 11-6 overall and 7-6 in the NE10 and return to action on Saturday afternoon when they welcome the University of New Haven to Stoutenburgh Gymnasium. Adelphi drops to 14-7 and 7-6 in league games.
Tim Guers fell two points shy of his fifth-straight 30-point game, but posted a career-high 17 rebounds to go with 28 points, four assists and three blocks to lead the Hawks. Taylor Fortin added 23 points and five assists, while Cody Ball chipped in 14 points and four rebounds. Brenden Vessichio came off the bench to net 10 points of his own, with Chris Braley and Grant Mackay hauling in eight rebounds apiece.
Adelphi had five players score in double-figures led by 19 points from Michael Coffey. Manny Suarez added a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Conor McGuinness had 14 points of his own to go with five assists.
Taylor Fortin gave the Hawks their first lead of the game with a triple early in the first half to put Saint Anselm ahead 7-6 before Tim Guers scooped home a lefty-layup to give Saint Anselm a 14-13 advantage with 13:20 remaining in the period. Adelphi answered right back, and a three-point play from Austin Beech put the home team ahead 18-16 less than two minutes later.
This time the Hawks had the response, rattling off a 19-3 run to race out to a 35-21 lead with 6:43 to play. Taylor Fortin scored five points during the run, with Cody Ball, Brenden Vessichio and Kyle Green scoring four points apiece to help the Hawks build their 14-point lead.
Adelphi used a 5-0 spurt on a Beech layup and a triple from Michael Coffey before Fortin scored again to keep the Hawks in front 37-26. Conor McGuinness sandwiched three-pointers around a Vessichio triple to make it a 40-32 game and 3:56 to play and the two teams would trade scores the rest of the period, with Adelphi getting as close as 42-38, but the Hawks would take a 46-40 lead into halftime.
Cody Ball scored five of the first eight points of the second half to give Saint Anselm a 51-45 lead, but Adelphi continued to chip away as McGuinness knocked down another three-pointer to trim the Hawk lead to 51-48. Fortin and Beech traded layups as the Hawks continued to lead 53-50, before Ball and McGuinness would swap three-pointers to make it a 56-53 game with 15:01 remaining.
Tim Guers and Brenden Vessichio combined to post an 8-0 run, with five points from Guers, to give Saint Anselm the 64-53 lead, but Adelphi answered with four-straight points of their own to climb back to 64-57. Grant Mackay ended the stretch with a long jumper, but Jack Laffy stole a pass and cruised in for a layup to keep it a seven point game at 66-59 with 10:58 remaining. Taylor Fortin and Tim Guers would each knock down jumpers to put the Hawks back on top 70-59 with 9:52 to play.
A 5-0 personal run by Austin Nydegger gave the Hawks a 77-61 advantage with 7:18 remaining, but Adelphi had the answer again, this time using a 7-0 run to make it a 77-68 game and force a Saint Anselm timeout with 5:39 remaining. Guers and Fortin combined to go 4-for-6 at the charity stripe to push the lead back to 81-68, and the Hawks eventually took an 85-70 lead following back-to-back layups by Guers and Ball with 2:56 to play.
The game of runs continued as Adelphi scored six-straight points to pull to within 85-76 and 1:06 remaining. The Panthers were forced to foul, and Taylor Fortin went 3-for-4 at the charity stripe down the stretch to help the Hawks pull away for the 88-76 victory.
The Hawks shot 48.6% (35-of-72) from the field, 47.1% (8-of-17) from beyond the arc and 66.7% (10-of-15) from the charity stripe in the win. Adelphi knocked down 40.8% (31-of-7) of their shots, 25.9% (7-of-27) of their threes and 87.5% (7-of-8) of their free throws. The Hawks dominated the glass, outrebounding the Panthers 54-32, but committed 13 turnovers to just nine for the Panthers.
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