MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's basketball team picked up an 82-77 victory over the Setters from Pace University on Sunday in the Northeast-10 Conference Quarterfinals.
Box Score
Saint Anselm, the top seed from the Northeast Division of the NE10, improves to 19-8 overall on the year. The Hawks will host Franklin Pierce, the third seed in the Northeast Division, this Wednesday, Mar. 5 at 7 p.m. in Stoutenburgh Gymnasium. Playing on the road, the Ravens topped Adelphi in a one-possession game on Sunday.
Five starters reached double-digit scoring totals for the Hawks, led by sophomore Miles Tention (Palo Alto, Calif.) and his 20 points off of six treys and two free throws. Junior Chris Paul (Highland Mills, N.Y.) scored 15 points with seven assists and six rebounds and was followed by 14-point performances by classmate Gustav Suhr-Jessen (Virum, Denmark) and freshman Tyler Arbuckle (Bristol, Conn.).
Paul reached 500 points on the season, reaching that milestone for the first time in his three-year career on the Hilltop. He also reached 200 rebounds on the year in the victory. Suhr-Jessen eclipsed the 900-career point plateau and Tention, with a strong postseason offensive performance, has scored 519 points in his 56-game career.
One of the stoutest defenses in the East Region, Pace conceded 17 of the game's first 22 points to the Hawks, who led by 12 points with just under five minutes elapsed in the contest. The Setters settled down and rebounded with a 28-10 scoring run that propelled them into the lead, 33-27, with 7:36 left in the opener.
Near the end of the first half, Pace led by as many as 11 points, 47-36, with a 14-2 scoring run before a deep triple from Tention at the horn temporarily slowed the momentum. Saint Anselm was down by eight points, 47-39, at the break as Pace shot nearly 60% from the floor (19-for-33) and made six out of their first 10 triples.
That big basket by Tention, however, turned into a 20-4 scoring spurt by the Hawks, who captured a five-point lead that was capped by a Suhr-Jessen jumper in the paint with 15:37 left in regulation. Pace punched right back, retaking a four-point lead at the end of a 16-7 stretch of scoring that pushed them in front, 67-63, with 9:55 left.
The last momentum swing was in favor of the hosts, who overcame a four-point deficit to score 14 of the game's next 18 points to capture a 77-71 lead with under a minute left in regulation time. A huge basket in that stretch was a three-point basket by Suhr-Jessen with 2:06 to go that turned a one-point lead into a four-point bulge.
Pace stole an inbounds play with under a minute to go and Ray Montilus buried back-to-back free throws, shrinking the Setters deficit to 77-75 with 40 seconds left, but a layup by Arbuckle only nine seconds later recreated a two-possession lead for the Hawks.
Peyton Wejnert, the leading scorer in the Northeast-10, lived up to the billing, fueling a strong Pace offensive day with 29 points and 11 rebounds. Brandon Jacobs posted 15 points and six assists across 36 minutes for the visitors. Pace punished Saint Anselm under the basket, scoring 40 points in the paint while limiting the Hawks to only 18 points directly under the rim.
