MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's basketball fought all the way until the end, but the Hawks suffered an 85-75 to Pace University on Wednesday night in Northeast-10 Conference action at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium in Manchester, N.H.
Box Score
The Hawks fall to 6-4 overall and 4-4 in the NE10 with the defeat and face a tough test on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Saint Rose for a 3:30 p.m. matchup. Pace improves to 5-10 and 2-5 in league games with the win.
Tim Guers poured in 23 points to go with five rebounds and three assists to lead Saint Anselm. Taylor Fortin added 15 points, five rebounds and seven assists, while Chris Braley recorded his third double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Cody Ball chipped in eight points, while Kyle Green and Brenden Vessichio combined for 10 points off the bench.
Pace was led by 28 points, including 6-of-8 three-pointers, from Ryan Peterson, while Austin Monfunanya had a double-double of 20 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks. Mike Demello also added 17 points.
The Hawks ended the game shooting 41% (25-of-61) from the field, 33.3% (6-of-18) from three and 70.4% (19-of-27) from the free throw line. Pace shot a blistering 50.8% (30-of-59) from the floor, 52.6 (10-of-19) from beyond the arc and 78.9% (15-of-19) from the free throw line. The Setters held a slight 37-34 edge in rebounds, while the Hawks held a 13-16 advantage in turnovers.
Saint Anselm fell into an early 8-2 hole to start the game before back-to-back scores from Tim Guers made it an 8-6 game with 16:47 to play. Ryan Peterson eventually gave Pace a 15-8 advantage nearly two minutes later, but a 5-0 run by Guers followed by a triple from Vessichio gave the Hawks their first lead of the game at 16-15 and just under 13 minutes to play.
A pair of Chris Braley free throws at the 10:49 mark gave the Hawks a 20-15 lead, and the Setters sandwiched triples from Peterson and Jack McGuire around a Kyle Green basket to trim the Saint Anselm lead to 22-21. The two teams continued to trade buckets until a 6-0 run by the visitors put Pace in front 37-32 with 2:52 remaining in the period.
Grant Mackay ended the run with a free throw, but Ryan Peterson knocked down another triple for the final basket of the period as the Setters took a 40-33 lead into the half.
Saint Anselm started to chip away early in the second stanza as back-to-back baskets from Taylor Fortin cut the deficit to 48-44. Mofunanya answered with a layup, but a jumper from Cody Ball followed by a Mackay three-point play made it a one-point game at 50-49 with 13:07 to play. Fortin responded to a Peyton Wejnert layup with a score to keep it a 52-51 game, and two-straight perfect trips to the charity stripe from Kyle Green and Tim Guers tied the game at 57-57 with 8:55 to play.
Pace answered with four-straight points to go back up 61-57, and Cody Ball knocked down a three from the top of the key to pull the Hawks back to within 63-62 and 6:49 remaining.
The Hawks continued to battle, but Pace had the answer each time as a three-point play on a monster dunk from Ryan Peterson put the Setters on top 68-63. Braley scored on the ensuing Saint Anselm possession, and Pace responded again with a Mike Demello three to pull back ahead 71-65.
Taylor Fortin knocked down a triple to make it a 76-71 game with 2:07 remaining, and the Hawks forced a turnover on the inbound leading to a Guers jumper that made it a 76-73 game. Pace answered by drawing a foul and Demello knocked down two free throws, starting a stretch of eight-straight freebies by the Setters that put the visitors on top 84-75, and eventually led to an 85-75 victory for the Setters.
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