MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College men's basketball team was downed by visiting Bentley University on Wednesday by an 89-79 score in the Hawks' season opener.
Saint Anselm came into the game as the No. 12 team in NCAA Division II, according to the D2SIDA Men's Basketball Division II Media Poll while Bentley is tied for 25th in the country in the same poll. The Hawks move to 0-1 on the year while the Falcons improve to 2-0.
Senior Chris Paul (Highland Mills, N.Y.) scored 27 points, shooting 12-for-23 from the floor, and picked up six rebounds and four assists. Senior Miles Tention (Palo Alto, Calif.) had 16 points and tied with Paul for the team lead with four assists. Sophomore Matt Becker (Fairfield, Conn.) and senior Joey Belli (Wayne, N.J.) scored 15 and 11 points, respectively. Becker was making his collegiate debut in the game.
Senior Alonzo Jackson (Medford, Mass.) had three blocks on the day, moving into ninth place on the all-time list with 61 career rejections in 59 games.
Saint Anselm finished the day converting on just nine of its 22 trips to the free-throw line (40.9%). The Hawks shot nearly 50% from the floor (32-for-65), but Bentley punished the Hawks with nine three-point baskets (9-for-16, 56.3%) and hauled in 37 rebounds – Saint Anselm finished with 35 rebounds and just six makes from distance on 16 attempts.
With the score tied at six in the early goings, Bentley went on a 24-10 scoring run to stun the packed gymnasium. In that stretch, the Falcons were a hot 9-for-11 from the floor with Saint Anselm hitting on four-of-nine shots, but missing four out of its first five free throws.
At one point, Bentley fired off a 13-4 scoring run near the midpoint of the opening half, building a game-high 34-18 lead with 9:11 left to go. Saint Anselm shrunk the Bentley advantage shortly thereafter, scoring nine consecutive points starting with a Belli triple with 8:33 remaining. A late Paul jumper with under 2:30 to go reduced the Falcons lead to just 44-38, but Bentley used an 8-1 scoring spurt to build a 51-39 lead at the break.
Bentley shot exactly 60% from the floor in the first half while Saint Anselm missed nine free throws on its first 15 trips to the line.
Down by a 59-45 margin with 13:45 left in regulation, Saint Anselm pumped up the crowd with a dominant 14-2 scoring stretch that saw the hosts make six-of-eight shots from the floor. In that span, Becker matched Paul with six points and a stout Saint Anselm defense kept Bentley to just one field goal make on seven chances.
Down by just two points, 61-59, with under 10 minutes to go, Saint Anselm could not complete the comeback. Bentley pulled away by scoring 18 of the game's next 28 points to capture a 79-69 lead with 4:33 left following a good Colton Lawrence layup that gave the Bentley graduate student 34 points on the evening and forcing a Saint Anselm time out.
The teams traded points down the stretch, scoring exactly 10 each, to set the final score at 89-79 as time expired. Saint Anselm out-shot the visitors in the second half, 51.5%-to-45.7%, but Bentley extended its offensive possessions with six offensive rebounds as opposed to just one for the home team. The Hawks held the slight edge in second-half scoring, 40-to-38.
Jordan Mello-Klein narrowly missed a double-double for Bentley, scoring 15 points with nine rebounds while adding six assists and four steals. Lawrence finished with five three-point baskets and made 13-of-19 from the floor to finish with the aforementioned 34 points.
